The Lexington Legends are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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. Mod ...

team based in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. 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 based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's ...

, a "partner league" of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. The Legends have played their home games at Wild Health Field since 2001.

History

The Class-A

Kissimmee Cobras The Kissimmee Cobras were a Florida State League baseball team based in Kissimmee, Florida that played from 1995 to 2000. They were affiliated with the Houston Astros and played their home games at Osceola County Stadium. Prior to 1995, the tea ...

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. The 2001 season began under

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

J. J. Cannon. The team finished their first regular season with record of 92 wins and 48 losses and in first place of 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 ...

. 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 affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They played their home g ...

in the first round and advanced to play the

Asheville Tourists The Asheville Tourists are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in differen ...

in the League Championship Series. However, the series was cancelled after the Legends won the first two games of the series due to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

and the Legends were declared co-champions after having gone up 2-0 before game three was cancelled. Cannon returned to manage in 2002 and led the team to another winning record, but the Legends failed to qualify for the playoffs. Lexington made a return trip to the playoffs in 2003, but were defeated by the

Lake County Captains The Lake County Captains are a Minor League Baseball team in Eastlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, that plays in the Midwest League as the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The Captains joined the Class A Midwest League following t ...

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 William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

announced that he would come out of retirement to pitch for the Houston Astros for the remainder of the 2006 season. Planning to keep himself to a strict 60-pitch limit, Clemens returned to baseball with the Legends, where his oldest son

Koby KOBY (940 AM) was an American radio station broadcasting an Oldies format. It was licensed to Cedar City, Utah. The license and the callsign have been deleted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. History The station used to be known ...

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 1 run while

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Irish television legal drama series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017. Produced by Bl!nder F!lms for RTÉ Television, ''Striking Out'' stars Amy Huberman as Dublin-based solicitor Tara Rafferty, who is ...

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 Joseph Mikulik ( ), born October 30, 1963 in Weimar, Texas, is a former minor league baseball player and the former manager of the Asheville Tourists, Myrtle Beach Pelicans and the Frisco RoughRiders minor league baseball teams. The 5' 11" righ ...

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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 201 ...

'',

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''

Pardon the Interruption ''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top storie ...

'' and ''

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'', and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

's ''

Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show presented five selected news stories o ...

''. Roger Clemens' appearance as a Legend as well as 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 the 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 Wild Health Field were sold to Nathan and Keri Lyons.

Mascots

The Legends' mascot is Big L, a mustachioed

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

caricature. His best friend is Pee Wee, another team mascot.

Season by season results

Since their inception, the Lexington Legends franchise has played 21 seasons. Originally in the

(2001 - 2019) and later the

(2021 - Present ). As of the completion of the 2022 season, the club has played in 2,886 regular season games and compiled a record of 1,400 - 1,486 or a .485 winning percentage. The team has a

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

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

" 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

Legends Hall of Fame

The Legends have honored ten past members of the organization by inducting them in the Legends Hall of Fame."Lexington Legends Hall of Fame."
Minor League Baseball. Retrieved on September 11, 2010. 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 cat ...

(2004), inducted in 2005 * John Buck,

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

(2001), inducted in 2005 * Joe Cannon,

(2001–2002), inducted in 2006 * Félix Escalona, second baseman (2001), inducted in 2005 *

Mike Gallo Michael Dwain Gallo (born April 2, 1977) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. Biography He debuted for the Houston Astros on July 2, . Careerwise with the Astros, he was 4-3 with an ERA of 4.11. He attended Long Beach State. In ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

(2002), inducted in 2007 *

Kirk Saarloos Kirk Craig Saarloos (born May 23, 1979) is an American baseball coach and former pitcher, who is the current head baseball coach of the TCU Horned Frogs. He played college baseball at Cal State Fullerton for coach George Horton from 1999 to 2001 ...

, pitcher (2001), inducted in 2006 *

Dave Coggin David Raymond Coggin (born October 30, 1976), is an American former professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional spor ...

, pitcher (2005), inducted in 2008 * Alan Stein, Team President/COO, inducted in 2005 * Charley Taylor,

pitching coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisio ...

, inducted in 2005 * Jon Topolski, outfielder (2001), inducted in 2005 * Tommy Whiteman,

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

(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 A legend is a historical narrative, a symbolic representation of folk belief. Legend(s) or The Legend(s) may also refer to: Narrative * Urban legend, a widely repeated story of dubious truth * A fictitious identity used in espionage Books, co ...

2001 establishments in Kentucky