The Louisville Bats are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Louisville, Kentucky, and are named in dual reference to the winged mammal and baseball bats, such as those manufactured locally under the Louisville Slugger brand. The team plays their home games at Louisville Slugger Field, which opened in 2000. The Bats previously played at Cardinal Stadium from 1982 to 1999. The club began play as the Louisville Redbirds in the Triple-A American Association (AA) in 1982. Louisville won three AA championships: in 1984, 1985, and 1995 as the top affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They joined the Triple-A International League in 1998 following the dissolution of the AA after the 1997 season. The Redbirds rebranded as the Louisville RiverBats in 1999; this was shortened to Bats in 2002. In conjunction with Major League Baseball's restructuring of Minor League Baseball in 2021, the Bats were shifted to the Triple-A East, but this was renamed the International League in 2022. Their lone IL championship was won in 2001 with Cincinnati. History American Association (1982–1997) In 1982, the St. Louis Cardinals moved their Triple-A team of the American Association (AA), the Springfield Redbirds, from Springfield, Illinois, to Louisville, Kentucky, where they became the Louisville Redbirds. They played their home games at Cardinal Stadium, which was located at the Kentucky Exposition Center and seated over 30,000 people. The stadium previously hosted the Louisville Colonels from 1957 to 1972. During their inaugural 1982 season, the Redbirds broke the minor league attendance record by drawing 868,418 people to Cardinal Stadium. On the field, the team narrowly missed the playoffs when they finished in second place, just one-and-a-half games out of first at 73–62. In 1983, the Redbirds became the first minor league team to draw over one million fans in a single season (1,052,438). The team improved to league-best 78–57 and won the Eastern Division title, which qualified them for the postseason. Though Louisville won the semifinals versus the Oklahoma City 89ers, 3–2, they lost the AA championship to the Denver Bears, 4–0, in the finals. Manager Jim Fregosi was selected as the AA Manager of the Year. The franchise was awarded the 1983 John H. Johnson President's Award, recognizing them as the "complete baseball franchise—based on franchise stability, contributions to league stability, contributions to baseball in the community,