History of Louisville, Kentucky charter member. While the Grays were a relatively short-lived team, playing for only two years, they began a much longer lasting relationship between the city and baseball. In 1883, John "Bud" Hillerich made his first baseball bat from white ash in his father's wood shop. The first bat was produced for Pete "The Gladiator" Browning of the Louisville Eclipse (minor league team). The bats eventually become known by the popular name, "Louisville Slugger", and the local company Hillerich & Bradsby rapidly became one of the largest manufacturers of baseball bats and other sporting equipment in the world. Today, Hillerich &
Kosmosdale, Louisville supercell that formed the F5 tornado in Brandenburg. Kosmosdale is located at . Kosmosdale, Louisville Kosmosdale is a neighborhood in southwestern Louisville, Kentucky located along Dixie Highway (US 31W) near Depot Lane and is named after the Kosmos Cement Company. The Kosmos Cement Company was purchased by the Flintkote Corporation in 1957 and operated as a Division of Flintkote for many years. It is now operated by Cemex, Inc. as a joint venture. An F4 tornado formed in the southwest part of Jefferson County near this area on April 3, 1974 during the Super Outbreak. It took three lives, but