‘Really just needed a clean slate.’ After 22 years, Lexington Legends have a new nickname.

Legends no more.

On Monday morning, Lexington’s minor league baseball team — which was known as the Lexington Legends for 22 years — announced a complete rebranding ahead of the new season.

The Lexington Counter Clocks, who will sport red and blue, pay homage to Kentucky’s influence on horse racing.

In the announcement video released by the organization, the decision to shift the direction in which horses race around a track from clockwise to counterclockwise is cited as the inspiration for the new name.

“There was a time when England was known for horse racing,” the narrator explains. “Before we declared our independence, their horses raced on the grass. Running clockwise.”

Before landing on Counter Clocks as the nickname, new team owner Nathan Lyons said the organization held meetings throughout the community for several weeks to gather feedback.

“Obviously, in Kentucky, in Lexington, the horse racing industry is significant,” Lyons said. “And our goal was to pay homage to that. But if you also think about baseball, we run the bases counterclockwise on dirt. And so it really started to come together and I think what our team has done on the branding side, the colors, the logos, we feel will be loved by many.”

Along with the name change come two new mascots by the names of “Hoss” and “Dinger.” According to the organization, Hoss and Dinger are representative of the fun and energetic nature of this new brand.

“Hoss the horse races to the left, charging toward home base with a Big L-inspired ballplayer on his back,” the organization said in a press release. “Meanwhile, for Dinger the clock, it’s game time all the time. His hands hold tight to a bat, ready for action and clocking home run after home run.”

The rebrand to Counter Clocks is the latest in a series of changes to Lexington’s minor league team.

Since the end of October, the organization has completely changed its front office, with Lyons and his wife Keri’s acquisition of the team and all related assets, and the hiring of former major league catcher Barry Lyons, Nathan’s uncle, as manager and Justin Ferrarella as president and general manager.

As one might expect after a complete rebranding, and the departure of a Legends nickname with decades of history attached, the team’s announcement on Twitter was met with reaction that ranged from the extremely negative — “You know what else runs counterclockwise? Toilets” — to the extremely positive — “I need a Dinger the Clock shirt ASAP.”

“The rebrand is just going to do great things for the organization as a whole,” Ferrarella said. “With the new ownership you really just needed a clean slate, you know, with all the improvements going on to the stadium. It just made sense, and it’s a team name that we’re gonna have a lot of fun with, but at the same time people of Lexington and Kentucky are going to be proud of.”

The Lexington Counter Clocks will begin their season April 28 with a three-game home stand against the York Revolution. Tickets and new merchandise are available on the Counter Clocks’ website now.

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