Photos: Swinging by Louisville, where bats are born

Wooden baseball bats are made from what are called billets. These are always 2 3/4 inches in diameter by 37 inches long, but vary by weight.

Here, bundles of billets intended to be made into specific major league players' bats sit on shelves just for those players.

Louisville Slugger signs some players to contracts, and those players' signatures are branded onto their bats. It also makes bats for other players, but if they're not under contract, the names are just printed on.

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