With a new name, new ownership, new management and new faces on the field, Minor League Baseball in Lexington has gotten an overhaul.
The Lexington Counter Clocks — formerly known as the Lexington Legends — commence playing the new season in a home game on April 28.
The new name, Counter Clocks, draws on Kentucky horse racing history. Soon after the Revolutionary War, William Whitley built the first horse racing track in Kentucky. His track was the first one to run races counterclockwise, in defiance to the clockwise racing tradition of England. Runners in baseball also run counterclockwise around the bases.
Nathan and Kerri Lyons acquired the Lexington Legends of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) last October, as well as the 19-acre property that includes the stadium and parking lot.
“We took on the challenge and now are charged with bringing this thing back,” said Nathan Lyons, a successful real estate developer in Nashville, Tennessee. “We’re fully committed to keeping baseball in Lexington and creating a family-friendly environment for folks to come out and watch baseball.”
CHRIS RADCLIFFE
Nathan Lyons, a real estate developer living in Nashville, Tennessee, purchased the former Lexington Legends of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in October. Now called the Lexington Counter Clocks, the team is set to begin the season with a new coaching sta., new players and numerous upgrades to its stadium.
Lyons said that over the past few years attendance at games had gone down. He notes that attendance across all sports declined due to the pandemic. In 2021, the Legends team was among 42 teams that lost Major League Baseball affiliation. The Legends had been affiliated with the Kansas City Royals.
“The shock of losing the franchise was a hit to the organization,” Lyons said. But that same year, the Legends joined the ALPB, the first Professional Partner League of Major League Baseball — a league with nearly 1,000 players moving onto MLB teams.
When asked if the Counter Clocks might one day return to affiliation with an MLB team, Lyons said: “All I can say is that we’re fully committed to the Atlantic League. Our goal is to become a top franchise in that league and provide a great experience for our fans.”
The Legends team was never put on the open market, Lyons said. Rather, while researching Minor League Baseball franchises with an eye toward acquiring a team, Lyons connected with a broker who specializes in buying and selling Minor League franchises. The broker suggested the Lexington Legends and helped initiate a conversation with the team’s then owners, the Shea family, which acquired the Legends in 2005. Ownership of the Legends transferred in October 2022. The Lyons also liked that Lexington was only a few hours of driving from their home in Nashville.
Lyons grew up in Missouri in an avid baseball family. His grandfather, father, brothers, and cousins played. “I’ve been involved with the game of baseball since I was a child,” Lyons said. An uncle, Barry Lyons, played Major League Baseball as a catcher for seven seasons, including a stint with the New York Mets. In the 1980s, whenever the Mets came to play in St. Louis, Nathan’s family would travel to watch his uncle play. Lyons recalls waiting outside the Cardinals baseball clubhouse and getting an autograph from Ozzie Smith, the famous shortstop nicknamed the “Wizard of Oz.”
Barry Lyons
Barry Lyons retired from Major League Baseball in 1996. He went on to work in Minor League Baseball, sometimes as a manager, sometimes as an analyst and broadcaster. In December, Barry Lyons was hired as manager (called head coach in other sports) of the Lexington Counter Clocks. He brings with him the special vantage of the catcher, a position often described as the field general in defensive play. Retired catchers are highly valued as coaches and managers.
He said his coaching philosophy has been shaped by the many mentors who’ve coached him throughout his career. “I learned [coaching] from many different sources, and I’ve tied it all together with what I believe works best,” he said. “I try to use all those experiences to be a leader, a mentor, someone who imparts wisdom and encouragement in support of our players, and then to try to be a great ambassador for the game of baseball.”
The Lyonses hired a new president and general manager, Justin Ferrarella, who also has a deep-rooted passion for baseball. Ferrarella grew up in New Jersey playing the game. He was diagnosed with cancer during his senior year of high school, where he played for the school’s baseball team. He beat the disease and graduated college in 2015. “I asked myself, ‘how can I get back to the game I love?” Ferrarella said. He landed a job as operations manager for a new Minor League team in New Jersey, the Sussex County Miners, that same year and was soon promoted to general manager. He stayed with the team until December, when he left to come to Lexington.
As general manager, Ferrarella will lead the front office, the business side of things, stadium maintenance, marketing, and public relations, which includes building a fan base.
Justin Ferrarella
“That’s the home-field advantage right there,” he said, speaking of the fans. “There’s an energy. When you walk into the ballpark, it’s electric. As an athlete, it gets you going. When the fans get behind you and bring energy, it brings out that competitive nature in you and forces you to find ways to win.” Ferrarella says he aims to create more energy and fun for families to take away good memories, including fireworks and other entertainment.
As team manager, one of Barry Lyons’ first tasks was to hire a new coaching staff. Through his network of contacts in baseball, he got recommendations and then conducted interviews. He hired Cameron Roth as pitching coach, Enohel Polanco as hitting coach and Bryan Swalley as defensive coach. Lyons and the new coaches have worked collaboratively to make new hires for the team. A large majority of the team will be new players for Lexington. “We’ll have a solid opening roster come April 28th,” he said, adding that with players departing to play for Major League Baseball, injuries and other reasons, the search for new players is always ongoing.
In December a series of online and in-person meetings gave the Lexington community and its baseball fans opportunity to offer comments about what they have valued and what changes they’d like to see. “It was well attended,” said Lyons. “We heard a lot of feedback, positive and negative. We got some great ideas. We ultimately decided, though the Legends name had been in place for 22 years; it was time for a new start and a rebrand was needed.”
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Plans call for roughly nine of the stadium’s 26 existing private suites to be renovated into an expanded club level with food and drink options, as well as indoor and outdoor seating.
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Plans call for roughly nine of the stadium’s 26 existing private suites to be renovated into an expanded club level with food and drink options, as well as indoor and outdoor seating.
Those suggestions also included feedback on the stadium and its facilities, many of which haven’t been updated since the stadium opened in 2001. About nine of the 26 private suites will be eliminated, making way for an expanded club level with food and drink and indoor and outdoor seating. Facilities will be available for non-baseball events. The Kid Zone has a new playground with a 20-foot tall, two-lane slide. Farrarella said that a new food service provider will upgrade the food quality and offer new menu and beverage options. Hospitality areas with concessions, including the taproom behind home plate and the stables area along the right field line, are all being revamped, along with the clubhouses. New netting and padding will also be installed for increased safety.
“We’re here for the community,” Ferrarella said. “You can come here and get mega-entertainment and feed your family for an affordable price. People are going to walk into the ballpark and see immediately that things are different.”
The Lyonses know that there’s a 22-year history of this baseball team in Lexington, and they want to build on that and win over more of the Lexington community while winning championships in the Atlantic League. As for the Lyons’ family tradition in baseball, Nathan Lyons notes that his 4-year-old son is playing T-ball. “And I’m the head coach,” he said.