>> Coming up on Kentucky Life, the Bluegrass Barons in Lexington play the game of baseball with a vintage twist, a craft distillery in Hopkinsville, rooted in moonshine and a still maker's legacy.

A small town transforms into 1300s Scotland for the Highland Renaissance Festival and wrestling manager Lemon Juice McGee takes us into the world of professional wrestling.

Hey everybody, I'm Chip Polston welcoming you to another episode >> of Kentucky Life.

How amazing is this, right?

Today we're in Cherokee Park here in Louisville.

We're going to be walking some of the trails and taking in some of the gorgeous sites.

Now, this beautiful park was designed in 1891 by Frederick Law Olmsted, who is considered by many to be the father of landscape architecture right here in the US.

Going back to the 1800s, our first story aims to hit it right out of the park while taking us back in time, the Bluegrass Barons is a baseball team located in Lexington.

They've been playing games all over the region since 2016, but the caveat is they like to play ball like it's in the 1860s.

Join Doug Flynn as he chats with the Barons and learns more about the game of vintage baseball.

>> We're here at the Waveland State historic site and I get to do one of my favorite things and that's talk about basebal.

Now, the game has changed a little bit since I played and before I played and we're going to go back in time with Dave Allen and Dave's going to tell us what baseball was like back in 1869.

He's with the Bluegrass Baron Vintage Baseball Club, and thank you first of all for coming over and letting me share and reminisce a little bit about something that I love dearly.

Well, thank you, Doug.

We appreciate you having us here.

Yeah, well now how long have the Bluegrass Barons actually been playing?

>> The Bluegrass Barons have been playing since 2016.

That was our first season and we've been playing here at Waveland ever since.

>> Wow.

And the game is a little bit different.

I noticed that one of the luxuries I had playing is I got to wear a glove.

You guys don't wear any gloves?

Nope.

>> No gloves.

Gloves did not come around until about the 1870s, 1880s, and so, but back then it was barehanded baseball.

Wow.

So you just put your hand out and hoped for the best.

I honestly think that it was a matter of pride.

They probably looked at it and said, "Look, everybody out here is, we're playing with our bare hands."

If you got to wear a glove, it's not seen as manly.

You had some catchers that finally had enough of having broken fingers and saying, "Okay, well I'm going to wear this glove with a little padding and give myself a chance here."

So is that one of the balls that you play with?

This is an example of one of the balls that we have here.

It's a lemon peel ball.

It is one all piece leather construction with four seams like that, and they start out rock hard at the beginning of the day, and by the end of it, they're a little bit softer, a little bit more forgiving on the hands.

Well, now I did grab a hold of that and even though it's a little bit soft, >> guys still hit the ball pretty good though.

Oh yeah, you better believe it.

They got the wooden bats and they wallop them.

How many teams are there that you guys will actually compete against?

>> We'll probably play about eight to 10 teams a season and we'll go all the way up to Ohio, Indiana, sometimes down to Tennessee.

So pretty much here in the area.

Well, how many teams do we have in Kentucky?

As of right now, there's two teams in Kentucky.

Georgetown started up a team as the Georgetown Gentleman.

>> I thought one of the things that was so interesting as you guys are playing your game, how the crowd will get into it because they'll see a few rules that maybe are a little different than what they're used to.

>> I think one of the things that people will see, of course, is that there's no strike zone.

It's underhand pitching.

Dang, I played too late.

There you go.

Basically the only way you can strike out is three swinging strikes.

That's it.

Foul balls aren't considered strikes.

Wherever the ball lands first is considered fair foul.

Anything that's in the field of play is considered in play.

If it's a tree, if it's a shed, if it's a house, if it bounces, if it falls through the tree, you can still play it.

If it bounces off the shed, you can still catch it for an out and like you say, the pitcher had to deliver the ball underhand.

Oh, everything's underhand, huh?

Yeah, overhand pitching didn't come along until about 1884.

Then back then the pitcher was considered a feeder.

His job wasn't to strike anybody out.

He was supposed to deliver a ball to the batter that he could hit, put the ball in play and let the players make the play.

We kind of look at it from the idea that we're supposed to be playing kind of a gentlemanly game, so you're supposed to feed the ball a little bit slower to the hitter, give the hitter a chance to put the ball in play.

Ben "Pops" Clouse, he is our pitcher and he founded the team.

He's the one who saw this.

He came to a game here at Waveland, said, "We can do this."

And he's been the one that really got everything.

He got all his friends together, so let's do this.

And the crowd's been pretty good?

They've been great.

We really got a lot of great support here in Lexington.

It helps that we're at a great place like Waveland here.

It's a beautiful facility and in fact, some of the teams that we get coming in from Ohio and Indiana, they say, "Wow, we can't believe this.

You have this many people here.

This is amazing."

>> I saw where everybody had a nickname and yours is?

My nickname is Motown.

Motown.

Motown.

All right.

We got to hear the story.

I grew up a Tigers fan in Detroit and lived there for 35 years, and so when I came aboard, I mean I couldn't think of any better name, so that that's why I'm Motown.

And everybody loves Motown.

I agree, I agree.

That a way Motown.

Go baby, go.

Tell us a little bit about the uniform.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, 1869 Hall of Fame Red Stockings that they wear the wool or canvas uniforms like that because they want to keep it really authentic.

These thankfully are cotton twill, so they're a little bit cooler, which is nice on 95 degree days.

And of course we're just kind of wearing the shield here.

This was typical of what they would wear back in the day, but we see all kinds of different teams.

There are teams that represent, say the 1850s, where it was just people coming out.

They might just be wearing trousers, suspenders, maybe a white shirt because the game hadn't evolved that far yet.

There hadn't been real teams established yet.

We try to keep it as the authentic as we can.

>> What can folks expect if they come out to a ball game or a doubleheader ball game?

What can they expect when they get here?

>> Looking at it, it's baseball for the sake of baseball.

I think that's what makes this so great is there's no standings.

We're all just out here playing for the love of the game, and I think that people will see that, that what's best about this is that it's kind of a brotherhood between teams and the players that they respect us, we respect them.

We're competitive, but we love to play the game.

And I think that really comes across to people.

Just got to love the game.

Absolutely.

That's it.

Nothing better.

Thank you, buddy.

Yeah, thank you very much, Doug.

Really appreciate it.

>> Our next story takes us to a small town distillery in Hopkinsville.

Casey Jones Distillery specializes in moonshine and with a family history in the Land Between the Lakes, they rely on old practices and equipment passed down from generations to create their product.

Let's look at this craft distillery and learn a little more about the man behind its name.

>> Casey Jones Distillery, located just on the outskirts of Hopkinsville stands tall as a staple of Christian County, but it's the family history found at this small craft distillery that's at the heart of their story.

Western Kentucky and the Land Between the Lakes were booming areas for moonshining during prohibition, but to get to the good stuff you needed a still to make it with.

At the time, one still maker stood out above all the namesake of this distillery, Casey Jones.

>> I was hired at the old Paducah Sun Democrat in 1976, so I was actually inclined toward history and folklore.

And one of the things that fascinated me was moonshining between the rivers, and so I interviewed a series of people involved in that.

One was a man named Reg Nickel.

Then Reg said, "You need to interview John Bayes, who was a revenuer, federal ATF agent, and that's how I got onto Casey Jones.

I got one of our photographers, Barclay Tillman in the car.

We drove over to Aurora where we are now, and he lived in a little trailer just at the edge of town here.

So Barc and I got out of the car.

He was in the yard.

I said, "Well, I'm looking for Casey Jones, the guy who made all the moonshine stills between the rivers."

He didn't say anything.

And I said, "Well, I'm sorry if you're not Casey Jones, but John Bayes told me I needed to find Casey Jones and talk to him about making stills.

Well, he smiled and said, "Well, if John sent ya, I'll talk to you."

>> Casey started in the late thirties making stills, making moonshine.

Quickly, quickly became known as a still maker.

The first time he got caught, he spent a year in West Virginia and he turned around and got caught again.

First time was with stuff to make a still.

Second time was making a still plus the moonshine product so he got two years that time for it, and that's when he decided to quit making stills, and that was in 1950.

So he had a pretty good career over 20 years there of doing still making, moonshining before he got caught.

>> He made his first still without ever seeing a still.

Interesting enough, after he had his career at making full size stills like the one behind me ended, he then turned to making miniature stills and they are absolutely works of art.

They're correct in every detail.

You could probably run moonshine in them.

>> So Casey used all copper in his stills.

His design with the, what do you call a square pot or coffin style or a wagon bed still became known because of how many he built.

But the design of them, they were a low profile still and they actually heated up quicker than most stills and the heat was spread more evenly so it didn't scorch the product in it.

And then the other part was the condenser.

He actually created what we call a condenser, which is used in modern stills today, but they weren't used back then.

Back then they used what they call a copper worm.

Casey come up with the ideal to create copper sleeves.

So one sleeve on the inside and one sleeve on the outside a little bit bigger and the copper surface on that sleeve would touch so much more water, so it would cool so much more efficient.

So that allowed his stills to run and produce product at a gallon every three and a half to four minutes so that became a very fast operating still.

So if you were doing it illegal like Casey, that's what you wanted to be able to do was get in, fire up your still and then pack it out.

The other thing was his still is how all it had handles on them so you could actually take it and move it and move it in the back of the truck, back of a wagon.

It's the reason why some people call it a wagon bed still, so it's very easy to operate and very easy to use.

>> And we ended up with the last still he ever built, which was commissioned by the federal government to be built in 1967.

Many folks might have seen that still on display at the visitor center at Land Between the Lakes.

Well, in 2007, 40 years after it was built, the Forest Service took over.

Visitor center needed remodeling, and the still came out.

AJ found out about it and about a year later, one day, the head of the Forest Service called, I took the call, wondered if I maybe shouldn't have, but they told AJ that he could have that still if he would like to come and get it.

And so that drive that's usually 40 minutes took about 15 minutes and we went and we got this still and that's how we got into the distillery business out of another lifelong business we had that had nothing to do related with the word "distillery."

Casey Jones Distillery is the premier small tiny craft distillery in western Kentucky with tremendous family history.

We have a grandson and a fifth generation grandson working here.

>> Casey Jones' legacy with respect to the distillery is apparent in everything that we do.

I mean AJ, our master distiller, he's actually the third and yet first legal distiller from the Jones line, and that's their tradition that actually spans over a hundred years.

I mean, even I think it's we're in the 2020s now.

Well, Casey was still building during prohibition and that's a hundred years ago.

>> Growing up with my grandfather and my dad and hearing all the stories and the things that went on with the moonshining and I actually worked out in construction with my grandfather quite a bit, so he taught me a lot of things that how to do things.

And at that time it was sharpening handsaws, things like that.

I'd hear little stories, but it was just really intriguing to actually get in there and do this.

>> My great-great-grandfather, I actually didn't get to know him, so it's basically going off what I know and what I've been told.

And obviously I'm fifth generation, he's a troublemaker basically, gets in a lot of trouble.

I enjoy going on with his legacy, doing his work.

Maybe one day I'll get to make my own still.

>> In the town of Eminence, the Highland Renaissance Festival hosted by the Kentucky Renaissance Fair transforms a part of this community into a world of escapism for those who participate.

With everything from Turkey legs, the size of your head to medieval jousting, the Highland Renaissance Festival takes us back to the 1300s where knights and swords are everyday sites.

We got a closer look at this festival to learn a little more about what draws people in.

The >> Highland Renaissance Festival is a medieval county fair.

That's the closest description that anybody could ever come up with for it, and it's located in Eminence, Kentucky.

>> We've been here 17 years, so this is the Kentucky Renaissance Fair and we are hosting our annual Highland Renaissance Festival.

So this is a family business, so this is my mom, my dad, myself and my husband.

This was a dream for my >> parents.

We lived in Texas for a while, even though we're from Kentucky, we lived in Texas for a while and we went to one there and as soon as we did, I mean I was hooked.

We moved back home in 2000 and there wasn't one here so we put a group together and decided to open one.

>> Welcome to the year 1320, a small bit of Scotland called Briarwood.

Most importantly, welcome to the 2022 scheduled event for the Kentucky Highlands Renaissance Festival.

I'm His Majesty's Royal Jester Pocket Fool.

I am Rome, I am the Apocalypse.

Didn't ask you.

>> We're basically set at the time of King Robert the Bruce, which is the early 1300s.

We're a Scottish based fair because even though my last name's Frederick, which is German, my ancestry and my wife's ancestry is Scottish and Irish.

So we decided we wanted to do something based more on our heritage than we did just a commercial fair so we decided to go with Robert the Bruce.

We have artists, >> merchants, we have glass blowing, blacksmithing, leather, jewelry, >> a little bit of everything.

And then you're going to see entertainment such as jousting.

You're going to see reenactments, you're going to see live dancing, live music.

We have game of skills, so you can do archery, throw boards.

You're going to see a lot of really unique costuming.

You're going to see people that are the families, kids and moms and dads and everyone enjoying a different experience.

I think there's been a lot of friendships made here.

We've seen people meet and they're married two years down the line.

We see a lot of people, I think that sometimes maybe don't feel as accepted outside of the festival come together and they find people that are more like-minded.

Everybody's family and you meet so many people and it's neat for me to see that somebody from this walk of life and somebody from this walk of life have come together and they've met up and made lifelong friendships and they meet back every year here.

So I have been coming out here to Highland Renaissance Festival for five years now starting in 2017.

It's a lot like going to summer camp.

There's some people that I don't get to see them during the fall because they live elsewhere or they're busy with their lives, but here it's like for these weekends we all come out here.

We all get to dress up, have fun, and just enjoy ourselves and get away from the rest of the world.

>> Escape from the mundane life, that's all it's about.

It's all about total escapism.

I think that's the thing that draws people the most.

>> Each year we have grown with structure, with adding a little more character to the site.

People wise, it has grown immensely.

We started with maybe a few hundred people a day and now we're into the thousands a day.

When you're doing something as a family and you see what it's bringing back to the community, the people.

We have people that travel from all over the state, from out of state because it is unique.

There's nothing like this in the state of Kentucky.

>> This is probably one of the younger, smaller Ren fairs that I have worked, but it's also very vibrant.

A lot of the people here are very happy to be here, and so it's very cool to see a Ren fair with >> this much open space and these size booths, but with an audience this enthusiastic.

It's a >> very satisfying feeling to be able to do these kind of things.

The best feeling you can have aside from the children being knighted by the king and dealing with the fairies, the kids love all that kind of stuff.

But you see a grown person and the first thing they'll do is buy them a kilt.

And then the second thing they do is they buy them a big gnarly sword.

Totally doesn't go with their kilt, and then you'll see him the next week, the same guy he's got his kilt on, he's got his big gnarly sword with him.

He'll buy him a shirt, maybe a pair of boots, and then through the season he'll progress into where all of his stuff matches, whatever persona he's trying to emulate.

And it's a real satisfying deal to watch that happen.

>> Sometimes people just like the feel of what's going on around them, so they just come to enjoy that.

Well, I hope they're happy.

>> That's the thing, and I hope they want to come back and I hope they ate a five pound turkey leg and they drank two or three big mugs of grog and I hope that they had a great time and they tell all their friends and they want to have a good time.

>> Wrestling has some deep roots right here in Kentucky.

In the 1970s, there was the legendary International Championship Wrestling and Outlaw promotion founded in Lexington by none other than the father of "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Angelo Paffo.

Then you have Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, which created some of wrestling's biggest stars today.

So wrestling and Kentucky go hand in hand and today the wrestling scene is as vibrant as it's been in years.

Let's take a look at the wrestling world in Kentucky through the eyes of local wrestling manager and comic book store owner, LemonJuice McGee.

>> LemonJuice McGee's Comic Cavalcade is the largest comic and collectible store in the state of Kentucky.

We've been open since February 1st of 2020.

>> I didn't meet LemonJuice through that.

I met LemonJuice through wrestling.

He come to work at A&W for >> me.

LemonJuice McGee is my partner, Jason Stevens, who has been a wrestling manager for years with that name.

I've always been a fan of comics since I was little.

>> I come into comics a little differently than a lot of people as far as I never bought a comic in a comic book store until I was probably in my teens.

The fact that Somerset didn't have a place where you could pick up comics and games and stuff and there was definitely a hole there in the community for it.

And so we decided that we were going to do it, but we were going to do it the way we wanted.

Big, bold, it had to be exactly how we wanted it to be.

I think people need to feel a space of belonging and you can't find that obviously online >> or through a big chain store.

>> They feel like this is a place that they can come to and have a community where they belong.

>> There are fans of wrestling, comics, toys, all of it that come in here all the time.

And there are several that know who I am for different reasons and it's always interesting whenever they ask for me what they know me from primarily, and it's great.

My name is LemonJuice McGee, manager of Champions, man about town, the southeast's best Tupperware salesman three years running >> and well, obviously the talk of the town.

>> LemonJuice McGee is the manager of Champions.

He is a narcissistic idiot >> who is self-deprecating in a way that he doesn't understand it is and he likes to cheat a lot.

So being a manager in professional wrestling, it's kind of odd.

You're not actually in charge of any of these people.

You call them your client, you help them out at the ring.

Generally what I do is I come to someone with ringside, I run the mouth, I put them over.

As far as put them over, that's a wrestling term.

It's basically just >> promoting someone, just hyping them up.

I truly enjoy doing it.

It's very fun and a lot of it is to help out a wrestler who may not have everything they need as to be a total package.

So some wrestlers may look like a million dollars, they'll do all these crazy things but maybe they choke up on the microphone or can't cut as good of a promo.

Or maybe they need someone to blame for them losing.

And I can also be that guy as well.

When it comes to local wrestling shows in Kentucky, they're always around.

There's always, almost every weekend there's something you can see in the Square and Circle.

There are several independent wrestling promotions, >> whether it be KEPW which is the Kentucky Elite Pro Wrestling, New South Pro Wrestling, which is one that I'm heavily involved in as of late.

>> I've been a fan my whole life.

I'm 44 years old and my whole life, and then I was a pro wrestler for 20 years of my life and I had both hips replaced two years ago from wrestling.

So I've given a lot to it.

It takes a toll on your body.

>> It is predetermined, but these things that are happening in the ring, they do hurt and they are dangerous and you need to be properly trained.

That's why in Kentucky as the commonwealth, there is the state Boxing and Wrestling Commission.

>> And so in Kentucky you have to be licensed as a wrestler or manager or referee and it is simply for safety.

>> I mean, there are things...

Injuries happen all the time.

You've got to make sure that you can protect the people you're in the ring with.

>> I think the thing that most draws me to professional wrestling is the crowd and the reaction that we get.

No matter if they hate us or if they love us, it's all about that reaction and you can't get that anywhere else.

>> When the fans get heated at me and scream and yell, there's that segment of it, they know what's up.

They're having a good time.

>> There's that suspension of disbelief, they're going through it.

When you have the older people and the very young people screaming and yelling at you, you know you're really doing it because they are in it 100% of the time and they believe you are just the scum of the earth.

>> It's also an escape from reality.

Being a part of a professional wrestling group is one of the coolest things you can do because you don't have to worry about real life, it doesn't exist.

>> Wrestling is great for so many reasons as far as doing...

I mean watching it's super fun.

But doing it is just this...

I mean, it's this performance.

It's this thing where you get to act out, honestly, no matter how insane of an idea, you can make it work in wrestling in some way.

>> Comics and toys are definitely a closer tied unit as far as people coming in, being into comics, being into toys.

But as far as being into wrestling as well, there's a lot of them.

And I'm sure a lot of it is that these larger than life superheroes that they follow in comics and they like action figures of.

I mean wrestlers are basically larger than life superheroes themselves.

>> Thank you so much for joining us here in this spectacular Cherokee Park.

We have so enjoyed having you with us and cannot wait to bring you more stories from all across the commonwealth.

For now, I'll leave you with this moment.

I'm Chip Polston cherishing this Kentucky Life.