Hillerich & Bradsby (H&B), parent company of the
"Louisville Slugger" brand, has signed a deal with FL-based
Nat'l Beverage and KY-based Int'l Marketing Concepts (IMC),
which will produce a "Louisville Slugger" brand sports
drink, according to the SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Rick
Redding. The drinks will be sold in four flavors in 20-oz.
plastic bottles "shaped like a baseball bat" and will retail
for $1.39 each. With the deal, Nat'l Beverage "hopes to get
a sip" of the $1.5B sports drink market. IMC VP Cara
Bernosky said that if the beverage generates $15M in annual
sales, it "could bring Hillerich & Bradsby annual revenue of
more than six figures," although she would not disclose
H&B's licensing percentage (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/28).
SAM BAT THE NEW CRAZE? Sam Holman, maker of the "Sam
Bat," made from Maple wood and used by about 30 MLBers,
including Devil Rays DH Jose Canseco and Giants LF Barry
Bonds, was featured on FSN "Spotlight" Friday. Holman: "We
were told that before [Canseco] started using Maple, he went
through about 200 bats in a year. And I heard last year
that they thought he'd only gone through 100, so we'd like
to think we did something about that" (FSN, 6/25).
