Minor league
baseball teams are at the heart of many communities in the US. So it’s is little wonder politicians of all stripes are willing to defend them
Andy Shea, the president of the Lexington Legends, is the embodiment of the minor league baseball dream. The minor leagues are a peculiarly
American place where – in the idealized world, at least – clubs exist at the heart of smaller towns and cities in America, far away from the commercialization of the big leagues, and fans gather at the local ballpark on warm summer evenings to drink cold beer and eat hot dogs to a soundtrack of food vendors’ cries and the crack of bat on ball.
After graduating from Boston College 16 years ago, Shea moved to Kentucky’s capital to work for the Legends (his family owned the club), starting out near the bottom as a door-to-door salesman and parking attendant. He thought he would stay in the Bluegrass state for a year, then maybe two before moving on, but fell in love with the minor leagues, the Legends and the surrounding communities, and he now serves as the team’s president.