To be sure, for monetary purposes, the still-striking stadium off of North Broadway must go by the corporate sponsorship name of Whitaker Bank Ballpark, just as before it was known as Applebee's Park.

But really and truly, it ought to be called Alan Stein Stadium.

He's the reason for where it sits and for what it stands.

See, without Alan Stein, who announced his retirement on Wednesday as Chief Operating Officer of the Lexington Legends, there would not be professional baseball in Lexington, there would not be the Lexington Legends.

Back in 2000, most people said it couldn't be done. And for 50 years, it wasn't done. There was no baseball in Lexington, no minor-league baseball, no team and no place for a team to play.

The state wouldn't pay for it. The city wouldn't pay for it. There was no baseball park, and no consensus on where you might build a baseball park even if you had the funding to build one.

"Alan Stein was able to bring pro baseball to Lexington at a time when nobody else could, and he made it work," Pam Miller, the city's mayor at the time, said Wednesday. "There was a lot of talk about local government paying for it and I didn't think that was a wise use of government money. Alan was able to do it without that, and I sing his praises for that."

"I was one of the original investors in the Legends," said Lexington attorney John M. Williams via Facebook on Wednesday. "What Alan did is beyond amazing. He put together a pro baseball team and built a stadium with NO PUBLIC FUNDS, not even tax breaks. The team even had to pay the police to direct traffic at the ballpark. You won't see anything like this again for a long, long time."

I would say you won't see anyone like Alan Stein for a long time, but forget what he says. He's not retiring. Alan Stein could never retire.

"I'm assuming he's not going anywhere," Miller said. "We need him around."

It's in Stein's DNA to talk and sell and pry and prod and get things done. He'll move on to some other accomplishment. But he'll have a hard time topping this one.

"I think one of the more popular things to do in Lexington is still to go to a Legends game," said Larry Glover, the local radio talk show host who for the first seven seasons served as the Legends radio voice and public relations director. "And Alan is directly responsible for that."

They said it would never last, of course. It would be a fad. Interest would fade. Now the Legends have just completed their 11th season.

"His approach has always been that the fans come first," Glover said. "That was certainly the message he impressed upon us when I worked for him. He believed in a clean, enjoyable ball park, good food and a good time. He knew that without those things, we don't have jobs."

When the Legends played their first game in Charleston against the Alley Cats back in 2001, he guaranteed a victory or said he would eat a can of cat food. Lexington lost. Stein ate the cat food. A tradition began.

This past April, Stein guaranteed an opening-game win or he would dress up like deposed Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl. The Legends lost. Stein donned a bright orange blazer.

The man who said he brought baseball to Lexington so he could go to the games with his kids, promoted that kind of family atmosphere.

My colleague Mark Story once did a column where he asked people leaving the park if they knew the final score of the game they just watched. Most did not, and it didn't matter. They were there for the fun, the atmosphere, the community, and to enjoy baseball.

That's what Alan Stein gave his hometown.

I know it's not practical these days to rename Whitaker Bank Ballpark as Alan Stein Stadium.

So how about Alan Stein Field at Whitaker Bank Ballpark?

It's the least we could do for a Lexington Legend.