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{"id":2645,"date":"2016-04-05T22:47:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T22:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2016-04-05T22:56:40","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T22:56:40","slug":"louisville-slugger-launches-online-bat-customization-for-collectible-bats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/news-blog\/louisville-slugger-launches-online-bat-customization-for-collectible-bats\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisville Slugger Launches Online Bat Customization for Collectible Bats"},"content":{"rendered":"

At long last, iconic bat maker Louisville Slugger<\/a> is offering bespoke bats to the masses (they\u2019re not just for professionals any more), following scores of smaller-scale competitors who have offered this service for years.<\/p>\n

The unveiling of Louisville\u2019s sluggercustombats.com<\/a> is the first of a two-part launch of its new customization program.<\/p>\n

Phase\u00a0One<\/strong>, which just launched last week, allows for personalization of \u201cFan, Collectible & Special Occasion\u201d bats, i.e. souvenir bats not fit for gameplay<\/em>. In May, however, the company says it will add Phase\u00a0Two:<\/strong>\u00a0the ability for customers to design their own MLB Prime bat, Louisville\u2019s highest-quality wood bat used by many Major League players, and therefore meant for use in actual games.<\/p>\n

Watch a\u00a0video of the MLB Prime bat being made ><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We checked out Slugger’s online bat customization tool for you.\u00a0We’ll walk you through the process — complete with detailed screenshots — and give you our opinion of this new offering from one of the major players in the bat industry.<\/p>\n
$\"Custom$
Screenshot of the start page for customizing your Louisville Slugger bat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
First Impressions of Slugger’s Online Customization Tool<\/h2>\n
The website\u2019s splash page presents a rainbow of crisp, colorful product images and a centrally-located \u201cStart Here\u201d button. Hard to go wrong there. Customizing a Slugger souvenir bat provides the customer with three avenues of inspiration.<\/p>\n
The Three Slugger Customization Options<\/h2>\n
1) Personalize an MLB Logo Bat:<\/strong>\u00a0This option asks the user to choose a favorite MLB team and places the licensed team logo onto a bat with that team\u2019s proper color scheme. The Colorado Rockies bat is especially striking, featuring a black handle, purple barrel, and metallic silver engraving.\u00a0 $\"Louisville$ <\/p>\n
2) Personalize for a Special Occasion:<\/strong> The \u201cPersonalize a Special Occasion Bat\u201d option lets the customer commemorate a variety of popular milestones on a bat, including:<\/p>\n
$\"Its$ <\/p>\n
\n
Breast Cancer Awareness<\/li>\n
Births (\u201cIt\u2019s a Girl!\/Boy\u201d on a pink or blue bat)<\/li>\n
“Happy Birthday”<\/li>\n
“#1 Dad”<\/li>\n
The more\u00a0generic, \u201cCongratulations\u201d<\/li>\n
“Happy Father\u2019s Day”<\/li>\n
Weddings (complete with wedding bell art)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This option also allows the customer to select an ultra-cool vintage-look bat with a natural clear varnish and the classic Babe Ruth-era Hillerich & Bradsby logo with the electrified \u201cPowerized\u201d logotype.<\/p>\n
3) Design and Customize from Scratch:<\/strong> The third option, \u201cDesign from Scratch\u201d, allows for the most creativity, combining all possible customization capabilities into one easy interface. Here a misguided fan could do terribly unnatural things like place a red Cardinals logo onto Cubby-blue colored bat, and also add metallic color choices into the mix!)<\/p>\n
Slugger Online Customization Step\u00a02<\/h2>\n
All three of the above options provide up to two lines (25 characters each in four possible fonts) of custom text on the barrel. Here you can add names, dates, messages, or other non-obscene verbiage (don\u2019t even think about it \u2013 Louisville Slugger won\u2019t print a bat with bad words on it; and you shouldn’t either!).<\/p>\n
Fans may also design their own pink breast cancer awareness bats, ribbon-bearing replicas of the bats swung by Major League players every Mother\u2019s Day. Get one of those and feel good about it: a\u00a0portion of the proceeds support MLB\u2019s breast cancer charities.<\/p>\n
And a reminder that none of these bats are suitable for actual baseball play \u2013 these are designed to add to your collection, decorate a home and really just sit there\u00a0and look good.<\/p>\n
$\"BuildScreen\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n
Price of a Custom\u00a0Louisville Slugger Bat<\/h2>\n
Made in the USA, prices range from $24.95 for mini bats to $49.95 for youth model bats, up to $59.95 for custom adult-size bats. Slugger\u00a0says customers can expect their order to be delivered in three to four weeks.<\/p>\n
Customizing Our Own Slugger: The Verdict?<\/h2>\n
We like it \u2013 but with a few caveats.<\/p>\n
The Good<\/strong><\/p>\n
The site is slick and intuitive with a simple-to-use interface. Our\u00a0custom-designed masterpiece was brilliantly rendered as we\u00a0dreamt it up. What more could one ask from a custom bat website!?<\/p>\n
Well, a few things actually.<\/p>\n
The Hopeful Next Step<\/strong><\/p>\n
First, and most glaring to us:\u00a0there is no option to upload our own\u00a0artwork.<\/p>\n
A great many travel teams have passionate players and parents who would love to show off bats like that. Not to mention, these teams\u00a0often have funky names and original logos that would look sharp on a Slugger — especially when presented to a beloved coach or team MVP at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
In addition, many businesses could use fully <\/strong>customizable\u00a0bats as trophies for sales awards or\u00a0to honor other achievements. However,\u00a0they’d most likely avoid using them as gifts if they can\u2019t add their own company’s logo.<\/p>\n
For their part, though, Louisville Slugger personally told us in an email that it\u00a0would definitely be a neat function and that they’ll share the\u00a0feedback with the team.<\/p>\n
Last, and maybe this is already in Slugger\u2019s plans, but many more options could and should be added to the menu of the seven “Special Occasions” currently available.\u00a0We\u2019ve done our research and are certain that a few others exist, like Anniversaries, New Year’s, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. The main occasions are covered, but this would be a nice addition (that could also help them sell a few more custom bats!)<\/p>\n
Nice job Louisville \u2013 and bring on that MLB Prime custom site!<\/p>\n
$\"Pirates$
The custom bat made by your author, Coach Scott, from Pittsburgh, of course<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At long last, iconic bat maker Louisville Slugger is offering bespoke bats to the masses (they\u2019re not just for professionals any more), following scores of smaller-scale competitors who have offered this service for years. The unveiling of Louisville\u2019s sluggercustombats.com is the first of a two-part launch of its new customization […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,23,37,18,19],"tags":[43,45,42,46,16],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2645"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2768,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions\/2768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baseballbats.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}