From his office desk in Louisville, Ky., Steve Lyverse can hear the whirring of the machines on the factory floor below him, cranking out Hillerich & Bradsby’s famous wooden baseball bats.

Those machines have been at it for a while, notes Lyverse, Hillerich & Bradsby’s vice president and general counsel. It’s been at least 100 years since the privately held H&B began turning out its first Louisville Sluggers.