The Lexington Legends , who play in Lexington, Kentucky, are a Class A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Houston Astros, in the South Atlantic League. They play their home games at Applebee's Park, located in an industrial area on the northeast side of the city just inside New Circle Road (the city's inner beltway). The teams mascot is "Big L" a moustachioed ballplayer.

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Team history

2001–2005

The Lexington Legends began their inaugural season in 2001 under the guidance of manager J. J. Cannon. That year, the team finished the regular season with an overall record of 92 wins and 48 losses. This was the best record in the sixteen team South Atlantic League. In the postseason, the Legends defeated the Hagerstown Suns in the first round and advanced to play the Asheville Tourists in the League Championship Series. The series however was cancelled due to the September 11 attacks and the Legends and Tourists were each declared Co-League Champions.

J. J. Cannon returned in 2002 and led the team to another successful season. The Legends narrowly missed advancing to playoffs that season.

The Legends made a return trip to the playoffs in 2003 and were defeated by the Lake County Captains in the first round.

In 2004, the Legends finished with a record of 68 and 72 with a winning percentage under .500 for the first time in team history.

The team returned to its winning ways in 2005 when manager Tim Bogar led the way to an overall 81 and 58 regular season record (best in the South Atlantic League).

2006

On May 31, 2006, it was announced that Roger Clemens would be coming out of retirement for the third time to pitch for the Houston Astros for the remainder of the 2006 season. Planning to keep himself to a strict 60-pitch count, Clemens returned to baseball with the Legends where his oldest son, Koby, played. Father and son quashed 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." ^[1] He threw 62 pitches, allowed no walks and only the one run while striking out six in three innings of work with the Legends, who won the game, leading 5-1. Clemens really helped out the Legends in his stay. He bought new carpeting and flat screen TV's for the locker room.

The team came into the national spotlight for a second time as a result of events that occurred during a game with the Asheville Tourists on June 25, 2006. In the fifth inning of that game, Tourists manager Joe Mikulik went on an extended tirade after being ejected from the game following an argument with an umpire. This tirade was shown on various television programs including NBC's The Tonight Show , ESPN's Pardon the Interruption and SportsCenter , and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann .

2007–Present

Back-to-back losing seasons took place from 2007 to 2008. In 2007, the team finished in 13th place overall (the second worst finish in team history) in the South Atlantic League with 59 wins and 81 losses. In 2008, the team finished in 15th place overall (the worst finish in team history) in the South Atlantic League with 45 wins and 93 losses.

Season-by-season attendances

• 2001: 451,076
• 2002: 428,840
• 2003: 370,656
• 2004: 401,191
• 2005: 388,710
• 2006: 376,702
• 2007: 377,836
• 2008: 370,570 (68 openings; 5,450 average per opening; ranked 3rd of 16 SAL teams)

Season-by-season results

Since its inception in Lexington, Kentucky, the Lexington Legends franchise has played eight seasons (all in the South Atlantic League and all as the Class A affiliate of the Houston Astros).

As of the completion of the 2008 season, the club has played in 1,113 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 576–537. This equates to a .517 winning percentage. The team has also compiled a postseason win-loss record of 4–4.

Clinched Post-season Berth ?

Advanced to Championship Round †

League Champions ‡

Season	Manager	Record[a	Win %	League[b	Division[c	GB[d	Post-season record[e	Post-season win %	Result	MLB affiliate
2001 ? ‡	J. J. Cannon	92–48	.657	01.0 1st	1st	00.0 —	4–0	1.000	Defeated Hagerstown Suns 2-0 in first round Led Asheville Tourists 2-0 in League Championship Series Declared Co-League Champions[f	Houston
2002	J. J. Cannon	81–59	.579	02.0 2nd	2nd	02.5 2½	—	—	—	Houston
2003 ?	Russ Nixon	75-63	.543	07.0 7th	2nd	25.0 25	0–2	.000	Lost to Lake County Captains 0-2 in first round	Houston
2004	Iván DeJesús	68–72	.486	10.0 10th	7th	17.0 17	—	—	—	Houston
2005	Tim Bogar	81–58	.583	01.0 1st	1st	00.0 —	—	—	—	Houston
2006 ?	Jack Lind	75–63	.543	05.0 5th	3rd	08.5 8½	0–2	.000	Lost to Lakewood BlueClaws 0-2 in first round	Houston
2007	Gregg Langbehn	59–81	.421	13.0 13th	7th	25.0 25	—	—	—	Houston
2008	Gregg Langbehn	45-93	.326	15.0 15th	7th	36.5 36½	—	—	—	Houston

Notes

• ^{{#ifeq:none  This column indicates overall wins and losses during the regular season and excludes any postseason play.
• ^{{#ifeq:none  This column indicates overall position in the league standings.
• ^{{#ifeq:none  This column indicates overall position in the divisional standings.
• ^{{#ifeq:none  Determined by finding the difference in wins plus the difference in losses divided by two, this column indicates "games behind" the team that finished in overall first place in the division.
• ^{{#ifeq:none  This column indicates wins and losses during the postseason.
• ^{{#ifeq:none  Due to the September 11 attacks, the 2001 best-of-five League Championship Series against Asheville was cancelled. Asheville and Lexington were declared SAL Co-Champions.

2009 roster

Players				Coaching staff
Pitchers 41 Douglas Arguello 35 Corey Bass 21 Nick Cavanagh -- Leandro Cespedes 34 Kyle DeYoung 36 Bryan Hallberg 03 Reid Kelly 21 Ryan Owens (baseball) 37 David Qualben -- Sergio Severino 15 Chad Wagler † disabled list ‡ temporary inactive list updated February 19, 2008		Catchers 11 Ralph Henriquez 23 Max Sapp Infielders 36 Brandon Caipen 22 Koby Clemens 45 Tyler Evans 03 Jhon Florentino 13 Ronald Ramirez 26 Eric Taylor (baseball) Outfielders -- Andrew Darnell 14 Andrew Holder 12 Nicholas Moresi 08 Jordan Parraz 25 James Van Ostrand		Manager -- Gregory Langbehn Coaches -- Richard Clapp (batting) -- Charley Taylor (baseball) (pitching)

Notable alumni

Josh Anderson Jimmy Barthmaier Phil Barzilla John Buck Jesse Carlson

Koby Clemens Brooks Conrad Cory Doyne Félix Escalona

Mike Gallo Héctor Giménez Juan Gutiérrez Devern Hansack Charlton Jimerson

Edwin Maysonet Mark McLemore Fernando Nieve Troy Patton Felipe Paulino

Jailen Peguero Hunter Pence Santiago Ramírez Chad Reineke Wandy Rodríguez

Rodrigo Rosario Kirk Saarloos Chris Sampson J. R. Towles Ben Zobrist

Legends Hall of Fame

Josh Anderson, Outfielder in 2004, Inducted in 2005 John Buck, Catcher in 2001, Inducted in 2005 J. J. Cannon, Manager from 2001 to 2002, Inducted in 2006 Félix Escalona, Second baseman in 2001, Inducted in 2005 Mike Gallo, Pithcer in 2002, Inducted in 2007

Kirk Saarloos, Pitcher in 2001, Inducted in 2006 Alan Stein, Team President/COO, Inducted in 2005 Charley Taylor, Pitching Coach, Inducted in 2005 Jon Topolski, Outfielder in 2001, Inducted in 2005 Tommy Whiteman, Shortstop from 2001 to 2003, Inducted in 2007

References

1. Bailey, Rick “Pitch and catch at the park, Clemens style FATHER, SON 'GET AT IT' IN 90-MINUTE SESSION” ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' June 2, 2006