Horse Play

The cupolas, reminiscent of nearby horse tracks, almost look out of place.

The main seating bowl. Access to every seat is not always easy.

The park sits in a warehouse district; there are trees well off in the distance.

• Location: North Broadway inside New Circle Road, Lexington, Ky.
• Opened: 2001 as Applebee’s Park
• Additional names: Whitaker Bank Ballpark (2011)
• Home team: Lexington Legends, South Atlantic League (2001-present)
• Capacity: 6,033

Chronological Tour: Stop 208

Rating: 2 baseballs

Lexington Legends Ballpark, as it was known until hours before their first game in April 2001, when the bar chain Applebee’s signed on, is sandwiched between a strip mall and an industrial park, leaving the place with absolutely no view.

To make up for that, the stadium and several of its outbuildings are designed to look like classic racetrack buildings. The roofs of these buildings are light green, with white cupolas, several of which are topped off by weathervanes.

The park itself seemed like a step back, though, as the place doesn’t have the typical concourse from which you can see the game. Instead, seats rise and descend from the concourse level, with the field sunken by several feet, similar to Skylands Park in Augusta, N.J.

They get an “E” for effort, as the place is serviceable, but it didn’t do much for me.