- March 25, 2015
- 11:12 am
- Sara K. Gramata
- no comments
Wilson and Louisville Slugger
From time to time, we’ll have guest bloggers from the Sport Media class guest blog on current events. It’s a great opportunity for these budding sport professionals to gain experience and of course…see their name on the LUC website!
The following is from Joe Zgrabik:
Wilson Sporting Goods hit a homerun on Monday with its $70 million dollar cash purchase of Louisville Slugger from its original owner, Hillerich & Bradsby. Wilson, a foreign subsidiary of Finnish group, Amer Sports, obtained the brand, sales and innovation rights of the Louisville, Kentucky bat-maker.
Louisville Slugger had annual sales of approximately $100 million in 2013 and $75 million in 2014. To improve its marketing, sales and supply chain, H&B brought in former executives of Nike and Proctor & Gamble with hopes to spark a turnaround. But because of manufacturing problems of the OneX style aluminum bat, H&B suffered from a costly recall of about 13,000 bats.
Wilson, which is already the official glove of Major League Baseball, will now also have the official bat. In 1905, Honus Wagner became the first endorser of Louisville Slugger. Since then, more than 18,000 MLB players have stepped to the plate with a Louisville Slugger in hand. Over the past 131 years, H&B have created and grown one of the most recognizable brands in baseball. While Louisville Slugger is now under the Wilson name, it will continue to have a dominate presence in the game of baseball.