#Museum News December 23, 2016

Our Favorite Moments of 2016 as Told by Instagram

Lucy English, Marketing & Communications Manager

2016 will go down as one of our favorite years here at Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. As the New Year approaches, check out why the past year was one for the ages, thanks to Instagram!

Special Celebrations

It’s safe to say 2016 was full of memorable celebrations! We unveiled a life-size statue of Jackie Robinson to memorialize his play on the field as well as his lasting impact on society. We reveled in the Cubs ending a 108-year drought when they were crowned World Series Champions, and we watched our city come together to honor the incredible life of The Greatest, Muhammad Ali. We also partied like it was 1996 with throwback pricing, the Macarena, and Mario Kart to commemorate our own 20th Anniversary!

View Instagram Link: Garrett Whitley, Professional ballplayer in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, visits Louisville Slugger 

View Instagram LinkSee the 2016 Cubs World Series Champions bat 

View Instagram Link: Former Mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer, wishes the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory a happy 20th anniversary

You Never Know Who Will Swing By

No two days are ever the same around here, so you never know who you may run into while you’re here! Throughout the past year, we were lucky enough to have very special visitors swing by Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, including SportsCenter anchors taping for College Gameday, Mr. Peanut on his 100th Birthday road trip, and our latest Living Legend, Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield!

View Instagram LinkEmmy award-winning sportscaster for the NFL, Sara Walsh, takes a practice swing 

View Instagram Link: Planters Peanuts stops by to pose with our Big Bat 

View Instagram Link: Louisville Slugger introduces MLB Hall-of-Famer, David Winfield Jr., to his bat that will go in the Bat Vault

View Instagram LinkService dogs, Serena and Hudson, pose with mini-baseball bats

Something Out of Left Field

2016 was a year of several firsts for Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory! In March, we teamed up with Ripley’s Believe It or Not!® to open our latest temporary exhibit, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Oddball. Not only was this one-of-a-kind exhibit (going on through January 8, 2017) that features bizarre baseball treasures and classic Ripley’s a first for Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, but it was also the first time Ripley’s created a special exhibition with a baseball theme!

October brought a different kind of bat to the museum (and I’m not talking baseball bats) as we hosted our first ever Home Run Halloween! The week-long event included Creepy Cocktails with our Museum Row partners, Evan Williams Bourbon Experience, trick-or-treating in the museum and factory, and continued the theme of big things around here with the World’s Largest Vampire Stake!

View Instagram LinkSee Ripley's Believe It or Not! mini-museum at the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

View Instagram Link: Coed VEX IQ robotics team, Imagine Avondale, poses with Iron Man outside the museum 

Groups Galore

School field trips, baseball and softball teams, tour companies and more; we welcomed hundreds of wonderful groups this year! We have loved providing groups of all sizes personalized tours that focus on a particular team, city or era just for each group, and we can’t wait to welcome even more groups in 2017!

View Instagram LinkFortuna High School students from the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program visit from California and pose with Louisville Slugger's Big Bat 

Lasting Memories

We see it here each and every day, baseball connects generations. Even visitors who don’t consider themselves big fans find something here that resonates with them. Maybe it’s marveling at the sheer size of the Big Bat, or watching the woodchips fly during the behind-the-scenes factory tour. Or perhaps it’s holding a game-used bat from your favorite player, taking some cuts in the batting cages or experiencing any of our other interactive exhibits. At the end of the day, our favorite moments are the lasting memories that our guests create here at Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory. 

View Instagram LinkA group was back in town from the military and stopped by Louisville Slugger along their road trip

As this year comes to an end, we want to thank every single one of our guests for making our 20th year one of our best years yet. We can't wait to have you come see all the exciting things we have in store for 2017! Until then, follow us on Instagram (@slugger_museum), and share your favorite Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory memories with us using the hashtag, #SluggerMuseum. We’ll be sharing our favorites, and you’ll be entered to win a Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory Prize Pack