Henderson to Participate in Lexington’s Play Ball Initiative

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky head coach Gary Henderson will join Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, representatives of the Lexington Legends and officials from the Bluegrass Sports Commission and Lexington Parks and Recreation for a 1 p.m. news conference on Monday at Kirklevington Park to announce the details of the USA Baseball and MLB Play Ball initiative.

The Play Ball program is a collaborative initiative between Major League Baseball and USA Baseball. Play Ball will host education resources for coaches, players, parents and umpires and include resources on health and safety, support programs and ways to play baseball in specific locations. PlayBall.org serves as the online home of the initiative.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors announced that more than 125 cities, including Lexington, will be designated as Play Ball Cities in the inaugural Play Ball Month of August.

The 2012 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, Henderson is no stranger to promoting the game through USA Baseball, as the eighth-year Kentucky head coach completed a summer tour in 2015 with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team as its pitching coach, helping lead the Stars and Stripes to series wins over Cuba and Chinese Taipei. Henderson also served as a member of the USA Baseball under-14 coaching staff in 2012.