More than 50 years of Lexington baseball history will go away after next week

When he was playing for Henry Clay’s baseball team in the late 1970s, Jeff Shelby didn’t have a long blue wall over which to knock balls or stadium seating that could accommodate hundreds of fans.

That was fine. He wasn’t a long-baller and most of the time his Blue Devils were lucky to draw 10 fans. They were just happy to have a field of their own after calling nearby Woodland Park “home” for several years.

“Our pregame warmup was walking around the infield with buckets and picking up rocks,” Shelby said with a laugh. “And then we dragged the field, the players did. It took a good half an hour, and then we’d go tear it up. That was the best part.”

The appearance of and amenities in the ballpark have changed considerably since it was established in 1971, but baseball at Henry Clay High School — the field doesn’t have a name — has been played on the same dirt since that season.

One of the oldest continuously used high school venues in the city has produced the 1973 KHSAA state champion, oodles of college players and several Major League Baseball stars, as far back as Jeff’s older brother John — a World Series champion with the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively — and as recently as current Boston Red Sox star Walker Buehler (a two-time World Series winner with the Dodgers).

On Friday, it’ll host an evening-long alumni reunion before the Blue Devils square off against Lexington Christian Academy. That game’s the first in a three-game slate as part of the Fayette County Invitational. They’re set to host University Heights Academy and Eastern on Saturday before three standalone home games next week against Shelby County (Monday), Manual (Wednesday) and Somerset (Thursday) to close out the regular season.

Then on June 1? Five decades of history will be razed as part of the $185 million construction of a new high school campus. Henry Clay’s baseball team will be without a home field until the 2029 season.

“It’ll be the first thing they tear down and the last thing they build back,” Blue Devils head coach Jordan Tarrence said. “That’s the hand we were dealt, but it’s what’s best for the school so you gotta do what you gotta do. We needed a new school and five years from now we’ll have the nicest campus in town. It’ll be worth it.”

Coaching legacies

Tarrence is a Henry Clay immigrant.

He graduated from Apollo High School in Owensboro before a collegiate playing career at Kentucky Wesleyan, then returned to his prep alma mater as an assistant coach under Bob Mantooth. Tarrence’s first time on Henry Clay’s field was in 2007; Apollo made the state tournament and then-Blue Devils head coach Herb Hammond allowed the Eagles to practice at their facilities.

Tarrence had already not just plotted a move to Lexington, but for a teaching job at Henry Clay. He joined Hammond’s staff in the 2008 season, then took the reins ahead of the 2010 campaign after Hammond, a Hall of Famer who’d led the program for 17 years, was abruptly fired in response to a recruiting incident.

“I took a leap of faith moving here. I only knew three people in the whole city,” Tarrence said. “For me, Henry Clay was my family when I got here. Now I’ve been here 18 years and it’s the only place I’ve ever worked. And most of the people I know in this town are through baseball.

“And as soon as I got here, I realized how different it was and how much talent is up here, the tradition and how much pride people take in it.”

That’s true not only of Henry Clay but the entirety of Lexington. What happens on the hardwood gets more attention around here, but the city consistently churns out a higher volume of high-level baseball players, almost all of whom get their starts in little leagues stat-crewed by the same people who handle University of Kentucky basketball games.

Every school in the 43rd District — comprised of Lafayette, Lexington Christian, Lexington Catholic, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Tates Creek — has won at least one state title. Henry Clay, which plays in the 42nd District, makes six total out of Lexington. By contrast, only five schools in Louisville, the state’s largest city, have won championships.

At Henry Clay, title-minded expectations were laid by co-head coaches Bob Tripure and Walter Hill. Tripure, who started leading the program in 1970, eventually flew solo and continued skippering through the 1992 season. He also coached the Blue Devils’ girls basketball team from 1986-1992, guiding the program to its only Sweet 16 title in 1990. He retired from Henry Clay in 1992 but briefly returned to the girls basketball sideline at Lexington Catholic, where he won a second Sweet 16 title in 1999.

A “Wall of Fame” at Henry Clay’s stadium is named in honor of Tripure, who died last year ahead of the 2024 baseball season. He continued to assist the baseball program into “retirement.”

Jeff Shelby’s son, Deion, was an anomaly among his cousins, all of whom ended up playing baseball for Tates Creek. He followed in his father’s footsteps and had the privilege of playing for all three men who’ve guided the program over the last 50 years. His final two seasons were Tarrence’s first two.

“Coach Trip was the life of the party,” said Deion, now the program’s head JV coach. “Every time he came around, you knew he was here and you heard his voice. It was great having him around. We knew he was a legend, but I didn’t really understand the impact he had until I came here and started learning. I was very fortunate to be brought in by Coach Tripure and Coach Hammond and to be here when Coach Tarrence took over. I gained a lot of knowledge.”

Devilish celebration

This edition of the Blue Devils has work to do to make a run that would make its forebears proud. Henry Clay finished 4-4 in district play, positioning itself for a tougher postseason path than last year when it won the 42nd District Tournament as the No. 1 seed.

A hardy homestand — assuming they all get played, Henry Clay’s final seven regular-season games and nine of the last 10 will have been played at home — is an opportunity to discover momentum. It’s also a prolonged opportunity to celebrate a venue that will no longer exist within a few weeks’ time.

The immaculate stadium bleachers and press box, added at the turn of the century thanks to an influx of booster interest, are unlikely to be replicated at the new venue, at least in the early going. It’s uncertain what might become of the retired jerseys adorning the long blue wall covering an asymmetrical outfield — 355 feet in left field, 370 at dead center and 300 feet down the right-field line — but the wall itself will finally meet its maker this summer.

Wind storms twice in the last few years made strong bids but Henry Clay’s resolve — and manpower — was stronger.

“I’m gonna be sad to watch them tear that fence down knowing how much work we’ve put into it,” Tarrence said. “The players know how much pride we take in it. It’s emotional for us, knowing every day we come out here and leave, that’s one less day we get to be here. Today I painted the foul lines, and one day I’m gonna paint the foul lines for the last time. … The boys know we’ve got a nice field and that we wouldn’t have it without the people before us, and their parents have continued to keep it nice.”

The alumni reunion was a major point of emphasis for Tarrence and the program coming into the season. It was originally scheduled for April 25 ahead of a showdown with Tates Creek, but heavy rains forced a postponement.

As of Thursday morning, the forecast leading up to the game called for seasonable temperatures and light precipitation, with no rain predicted during the day on Friday.

“We’ve had people RSVP from five different decades and I think that’s awesome,” Tarrence said. “… The field has changed looks over the years and the people have changed, but it’s been in this one spot for over 50 years. A lot of really good Henry Clay players have played here, and there’s also been a lot of good players from a lot of other schools who have played here too. Think about the amount of big-leaguers and college players from all over the state that have stepped on this field.

“And this field has a lot of character. I can go all over the state and if I mention Henry Clay, people will say, ‘Ah yea, you’ve got the blue wall, you’ve got the nice stands.’”

According to early renderings offered by Tate Hill Jacobs Architects, part of the new high school will be erected where the existing baseball field (and nearby softball field) stands. The new fields will go up on the opposite end of campus located from where they are now. Until their new home is ready, the baseball team will likely play most if not all of its home games at Legends Field (plans are still being discussed for the softball team).

The new baseball field will surely be “state of the art,” but its own charms will have to come with time, likely long after Tarrence hands the reins to the next person fortunate enough to lead a program that has been good to the few men who’ve led it. No matter how they warm up or where they paint the lines, the fraternity will remain intact.

“Once a Devil,” Jeff Shelby said, “always a Devil.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 10:03 AM.