Louisville Slugger 2012 TPX (-3) Z-1000 Baseball Bat
Designed for high school and college players, the Louisville Slugger Z-1000 baseball bat brings new meaning to the word "performance." From the earliest days of the game, Louisville Slugger has employed the most powerful technology in the bat business. Back in the days of Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, that meant putting the most skilled craftsmen at the lathe, where they handcrafted bats to the most demanding specifications of the world's most demanding players. Today, it means applying the latest aerospace technology to bat making, delivering high-tech aluminum, hybrid, and composite bats for youth, high school, college, and senior leagues.The Z-1000 is made using Louisville Slugger's Swing1 inner disc (S1iD) barrel technology, which allows the barrel to flex to its maximum allowable performance level from your very first swing. Inside the barrel is a "governor" that's positioned at the sweet spot to stop the barrel from flexing past the performance limit. The precise positioning of the iD within the barrel also extends the sweet spot over a much larger area, resulting in a more reliable, more powerful swing. The Z-1000's high-strength, lightweight graphite fibers also allowed Louisville Slugger to reduce the wall thickness of the barrel. By using more layers in the barrel for added strength while maintaining a thinner overall profile, the company improved the bat's performance while maintaining its durability. The bat is "game ready" from the moment you take off the wrapper.Other features include a 31/32-inch tapered handle with a synthetic grip, a 2-5/8-inch barrel, a Louisville Slugger end cap, and a -3 weight-to-length ratio. Available in lengths ranging from 31 to 34 inches (with weights from 28 to 31 ounces), the Z-1000 meets all college and high school BBCOR bat standards. Each Louisville Slugger bat comes with an industry-best one-year warranty.About Louisville SluggerIn many ways, the rich 120-year history of the Louisville Slugger baseball bat began in the talented hands of 17-year-old John A. "Bud" Hillerich. Bud's father, J.F. Hillerich, owned a woodworking shop in Louisville in the 1880s when Bud began working for him. Legend has it that Bud slipped away from work one afternoon in 1884 to watch the Louisville Eclipse, the town's major league team. After Pete Browning--the Eclipse's star who was mired in a hitting slump--broke his bat, Bud invited him to his father's shop to make a new one. With Browning at his side giving advice, Bud handcrafted a new bat from a long slab of wood. Browning got three hits using the bat the next day. Browning told his teammates, which began a surge of professional ballplayers visiting the Hillerich shop.Although J.F. Hillerich had little interest in making bats, Bud persisted, eventually registering the name Louisville Slugger with the U.S. patent office in 1894. In the early 1900s, the company was one of the first to use a sports endorsement as a marketing strategy, paying Hall of Famer Honus Wagner to use his name on a bat. By 1923, Louisville Slugger was the selling more bats than any other bat maker in the country, with such famed clients as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Lou Gehrig. In the ensuing years, the company has sold more than 100 million bats, and 60 percent of all Major League players currently use Louisville Sluggers. The company now sells far more than bats, including fielding and batting gloves, helmets, catchers' gear, equipment bags, training aids, and accessories.