Whitaker Bank Ballpark - Lexington Legends

Whitaker Bank Ballpark Facts, Figures & Firsts

Construction cost: $13.5 million

Financing: All funding was secured privately, so no public money was involved in the project, which was headed by Alan Stein, who brought together a group of 22 investors in his role as president of Lexington Professional Baseball Company, the entity that has always owned the ballpark.

Architect: Canadian-based Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects, under the name of their Stadium Consultants International subsidiary

General contractor: H&M Company, which is headquartered in Jackson, TN

Ceremonial groundbreaking took place on February 7, 2000.

The size of the site on which the stadium is on is 19 acres. The lot was an empty field prior to its selection for the stadium and its surroundings, and had a purchase price of $1.5 million.

Located aside the Northland Shopping Center, which as its name suggests is on the north side of Lexington. The ballpark is a little less than 2 miles from downtown Lexington, which is where Rupp Arena is located. The longtime legendary home of the University of Kentucky men's basketball team, the arena is about a mile from the UK campus, which is 2½ miles from Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Naming rights: On January 20, 2011, it was announced that Whitaker Bank and the Legends had agreed to a 10-year contract. Finincial terms between the Kentucky-only banking company and the team have never been released.

For its first ten seasons (2001-2010), was called Applebee's Park. That naming rights deal was not with corporate Applebee's but one of the national restaurant chain's biggest franchisees, Lexington's Thomas & King, which owned nearly 90 Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants before selling them off in 2013. While financial terms for the 10-year deal were never disclosed, it was reportedly for $3 million total (according to Sportsvenues.com).

Prior to the original sale of the naming rights, which didn't occur until the day of the ballpark's first game, Lexington Legends Ballpark was the official name. And the first name announced following the deal with Thomas & King was actually Applebee's Stadium, which was changed to Applebee's Park during the inaugural game.

The building of this ballpark led to the return of professional baseball, on a permanent basis, in Lexington for the first time since 1924, when the Lexington Studebakers, as members of the Blue Grass League, played at Stivers Field. Except for a brief entry in the Mountain States League in 1954, when the Lexington Colts disbanded during the season, Lexington had gone 77 years without minor league baseball until the arrival of the Lexington Legends and opening of what's now called Whitaker Bank Ballpark.

Has 26 suites, which are evenly split between the first base (1-13) and third base (14-26) sides of the grandstand, with the press box placed in between them behind home plate.

The Legends' (home) dugout is on the first base side of the stadium, where it's in front of sections 102-104 but mostly spans section 103.

First game: The Lexington Legends beat the Hagerstown Suns, 15-1, on April 9, 2001 before an announced crowd of 8,037

Other ballpark firsts (all of which occurred on 4/9/01, unless noted):

Pitch Batter Hit (single) Home Run Winning Pitcher Losing Pitcher Save (4/12)

Nick Roberts Jason Ellison Jason Ellison Jesse Joyce Nick Roberts J.T. Thomas Joe Valentine