The Lexington Legends are an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

team based in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

. They are a member of the South Division of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

, a "partner league" of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. The Legends have played their home games at Legends Field since 2001. The team was known as the Lexington Counter Clocks during the 2023 season before reinstating their original name in 2024.

History

The Class-A Kissimmee Cobras moved from the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

to Lexington following the 2000 season and changed their name to the Lexington Legends. The 2001 season began under manager J. J. Cannon. The team finished their first regular season with 92 wins and 48 losses and first place in the sixteen-team

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

. In the postseason, the Legends defeated the

Hagerstown Suns The Hagerstown Suns were a Minor League Baseball team based in Hagerstown, Maryland. They were a member of the South Atlantic League and, from 2007 through 2020, were the Class A (baseball), Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They pl ...

in the first round and advanced to play the Asheville Tourists in the League Championship Series. However, the series was canceled after the Legends won the first two games due to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, and the Legends were declared co-champions after having gone up 2–0 before game three was canceled. Cannon returned to manage in 2002 and led the team to another winning record, but the Legends failed to qualify for the playoffs. Lexington returned to the playoffs in 2003 but was defeated by the Lake County Captains in the first round. In 2004, the Legends finished with a record of 68–72, their first losing record in team history. The following season, the Legends posted an 81–58 regular season record and finished in first place under manager Tim Bogar.

Roger Clemens

On May 31, 2006, Roger Clemens announced that he would come out of retirement to pitch for the Houston Astros for the remainder of the 2006 season. Clemens, planning to keep himself to a strict 60-pitch limit, returned to baseball with the Legends, where his oldest son Koby played. Father and son denied reports that Koby would catch his dad for the return. "He doesn't listen to me," Roger Clemens said. "We'd be shaking each other off and arguing too much." In his first game, Clemens threw 62 pitches, allowed no walks, and only one run while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

6 batters in three innings of work with the Legends, who won the game 5–1.

Joe Mikulik incident

The team received national attention again in 2006 following a controversial game against the Asheville Tourists on June 25. In the fifth inning of the game, Tourists manager Joe Mikulik went on an extended tirade after being ejected from the game following an argument with an umpire. The event received coverage on various television programs, including NBC's '' The Tonight Show'',

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's '' Pardon the Interruption'' and '' SportsCenter'', and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

's '' Countdown with Keith Olbermann''. Roger Clemens' appearance as a Legend and Joe Mikulik's meltdown are chronicled in the 2011 documentary film ''Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass''.

2021 and beyond

The Lexington Legends were one of the minor league teams that lost MLB affiliation under a new plan by MLB. On February 18, 2021, the team announced that it would be joining the

, an independent MLB Partner league, for the 2021 season. On October 28, 2022, the team and their ballpark were sold to Nathan and Keri Lyons.

2023 name change

It was announced March 6, 2023, that the team was changing its name to the Lexington Counter Clocks. For that season, their ballpark was known as Counter Clocks Field.

2024 sale and name change

It was announced January 25, 2024, that the team had been sold to Temerity Baseball along with several local investors. On February 15, 2024, it was announced the team would be renamed back to the Lexington Legends.

Branding and mascots

The Legends' mascot from 2001 to 2022 was Big L, a mustachioed baseball player caricature. His best friend was Pee Wee, another team mascot. The team's colors were blue, green, and yellow. Along with its new name, in 2023 the Lexington Counter Clocks introduced two new mascots: Hoss, a horse that races to the left, and Dinger, a clock swinging a bat. The team's colors are now blue, red, and white. Along with the name change announced on February 15, 2024, a new mascot was introduced: Mighty Lex, a baseball with arms, legs, and the same mustache worn by past mascot Big L.

Season by season results

Since its inception, the Lexington franchise has played 22 seasons, initially in the

(2001–2019) and later in the

(2021–present). As of the completion of the 2022 season, the club had played in 2,886 regular season games and compiled a record of 1,400–1,486 for a .485 winning percentage. The team postseason record was 19–8.

Notes

* This column indicates overall wins and losses during the regular season and excludes any postseason play. * This column indicates overall position in the league standings. * This column indicates overall position in the divisional standings plit seasons for 2013 and 2014 * Determined by finding the difference in wins plus the difference in losses divided by two, this column indicates "

games behind In some North American sports, the phrase games behind or games back (often abbreviated GB) refers to a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division. Example In the standings ...

" the team that finished in overall first place in the division plit seasons for 2013 and 2014 * This column indicates wins and losses during the postseason. * Due to the

, the 2001 best-of-five League Championship Series against Asheville was cancelled. Asheville and Lexington were declared SAL Co-Champions.

Roster

Lexington Legends Hall of Fame

The Lexington Legends honored ten past members of the organization by inducting them into the Lexington Legends Hall of Fame. These individuals are: * Josh Anderson,

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

(2004), inducted in 2005 * John Buck,

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

(2001), inducted in 2005 * Joe Cannon, manager (2001–2002), inducted in 2006 * Félix Escalona,

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

(2001), inducted in 2005 * Mike Gallo,

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

(2002), inducted in 2007 * Kirk Saarloos, pitcher (2001), inducted in 2006 * Dave Coggin, pitcher (2005), inducted in 2008 * Alan Stein, Team President/COO, inducted in 2005 * Charley Taylor, pitching coach, inducted in 2005 * Jon Topolski, outfielder (2001), inducted in 2005 * Tommy Whiteman,

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

(2001–2002), inducted in 2007

References

;General
"Lexington, Kentucky Minor League History."
Baseball-Reference. Retrieved on September 11, 2010.
"Lexington History (SAL)."
The Baseball Cube. Retrieved on September 11, 2010. ;Specific

External links

Official website
{{Lexington (Kentucky) Atlantic League of Professional Baseball teams Defunct South Atlantic League teams Houston Astros minor league affiliates Kansas City Royals minor league affiliates Baseball teams established in 2001 Professional baseball teams in Kentucky Legends 2001 establishments in Kentucky