Lexington Legends: familiar faces, new food and an All-Star Game

The Lexington Legends bring back a few familiar faces, new food, promotions and fireworks, the South Atlantic League All-Star Game and thousands of dollars of improvements to Whitaker Bank Ballpark as they open the season Thursday night.

Kentucky basketball star Alex Poythress will sign autographs after the gates open at 5 p.m. leading up to his ceremonial first pitch. The game begins at 7:05 p.m.

And while Thursday’s first-pitch forecast would not be described as “baseball weather,” that doesn’t diminish the enthusiasm the team and its players have for opening day.

This year, in addition to its regular Thirsty Thursdays $1 beer and soda promotion, the team has made every Thursday game a “Bark in the Park,” welcoming fans’ dogs for a $2 donation. And Thursday is one of 15 postgame fireworks nights this season.

Bobblehead nights are always a popular promotion and this season will include Kentucky basketball and NBA star DeMarcus Cousins for the first 1,000 fans on April 22. “Big Cuz” had some input on his figure.

“When I showed him the proof, his first question was ‘Where are my tattoos?’” Legends president Andy Shea said. “So I made sure I went back to the designer and we got a couple of tattoos on there.”

‘A higher standard’

This season’s roster includes outfielder Anderson Miller, a Lexington native and Lafayette and Western Kentucky product, who finished his first professional season with the Legends last year. He’s joined by Boyle County and Xavier pitcher Jacob Bodner. For the two Kentucky kids, cold-weather baseball is a normal start to the season.

“It’s definitely not Arizona,” said Miller, who was flown into Lexington on Monday along with the rest of the team from spring training in Phoenix. “It feels like college more than anything. At Western, we start the season Feb. 15. You’ve just got to get through it, and there’s a lot of baseball to be played after that. It’s not about where you start. It’s where you finish.”

Miller didn’t know Bodner until they were both drafted out of college last summer. They roomed together at spring training and will be sharing an apartment in Lexington with Ben Johnson, an outfielder from Austin, Texas.

“It’s crazy how small a world it is,” Miller said. “Two small-town Kentucky guys playing professional baseball is not something you hear of every day.”

The Legends are in their fourth season being affiliated with the World Series champion Kansas City Royals. And while the Legends are a few divisions removed from the major leagues, spring training offers the players a chance to see how major leaguers go about their business.

“You get to see the Alex Gordons and you pass by Salvador Perez in the hallway,” Miller said. “It’s kind of crazy and you have to do a double take sometimes, but it definitely holds us to a higher standard.”

Bodner closed out his first season in Burlington, N.C., last year. Being close to home to begin this year means a lot.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “When I was in Burlington last year my family came down a couple times to see me, but now, they’re able to come to any home game they want to.”

Bodner has been used as a late-inning reliever and closer in his short time in the professional ranks. Playing every day has been the biggest adjustment from college.

“Just getting used to that and be able to go out there and have the mindset that you’re going to try to dominate every hitter,” Bodner said of the transition. “In college, I was just going out there trying to throw strikes rather than worry about getting the hitter out.”

Improving the fan experience

For the fans, the Legends have improved the women’s restrooms, the luxury suites and birthday suite and have added a 2,000-square-foot Bullpen Patio down the first base line as a place for anyone to hang out and enjoy the game. It replaced a small grassy berm.

“It was just a little beat-up grass area,” Shea said. “I don’t want to call it a negative. It wasn’t a positive. And, now, it’s a big positive out there.”

In recent years, ballparks around the country have been unveiling extreme foods for the hungry and curious. Legends offerings include a fried bologna egg-and-cheese sandwich on a warm glazed doughnut and a “Churger” chicken and burger combo among other somewhat over-the-top burgers.

For those less adventurous, the team promises lower prices on more traditional menu items made possible by bringing all its concession services in-house rather than using a third-party vendor.

“That’s one area where we felt we could massively improve our fan experience,” Shea said. “This whole offseason, 100 percent of our time, effort and resources has been geared toward the fan experience and what else we can do to make that better.”

For years, Mondays have been “kids eat for free” days. This year, Mondays are “kids eat and play for free,” with each child 12 and under getting a voucher for a free meal and free wristband for the inflatables play area.

But the biggest promotion this season will be the South Atlantic League All-Star Game, set for June 21 and featuring the league’s top prospects. The event, held in Lexington for the first time since 2003, will include a free concert downtown the day prior featuring country music’s Thompson Square and a Tuesday pregame concert by country duo Halfway to Hazard. The pregame festivities will also feature a Legendary Derby, a Lexington take on the traditional home run derby.

“The All-Star Game to me really is just a huge culmination of everything great that we can do at this ballpark,” Shea said.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Lexington Legends: familiar faces, new food and an All-Star Game."