9/25/2009
Neither Laura and I are baseball fans, but visiting the place where all major league baseball bats are produced (or so said our tour guide) is visiting an inescapable center of an important part of Americana. This is a neat little place. There is a small museum with examples of baseball bats used by some of the great players, but the majority of the experience comes through touring the working factory. And that’s exactly what it is. You walk through the factory floor watching workers operate the machines that produce the baseball bats. It was interesting, but I found it slightly voyeuristic. For example, we watched as an assembly line worker placed baseball bats on a conveyer belt which were shot through a machine, at which point he went and collected them at the other side. Repeat. This is this man’s job – and for eight hours a day tourists like us walk by and stare at him like he’s a zoo exhibit. Everyone working there seemed very cheerful, but no doubt they’re expected to be. Don’t get me wrong. It was fascinating to see how baseball bats are made (I never thought about what an art form it really is), but I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to actually work there.
No comments:
Post a Comment