“Rise of the Panthers: The History of the Fort Worth Cats”
La Grave Field, 1948
Photo from the Fort Worth Historical Personal Collection
April marks the beginning of Baseball in America. Opening Day has become a ritual in which every team across the Majors plays their first game of the season. Sports have traditionally served as a unifier during a time of crisis and since the pandemic first hit Texas a year ago, sports fans are eager see their favorite teams play again. Fort Worth has an extensive baseball history its own. One team’s history spans almost 100 years.
Originally called The Fort Worth Panthers, The Fort Worth Cats were a minor league baseball team of mostly the Texas League franchise that ran from 1888 to 1964 and 2002 to 2014.
As the story goes, a 19th century Dallasite made the joke that Fort Worth was such a sleepy town that he had seen a panther snoozing in front of the courthouse. In true Fort Worthian fashion, the city embraced the nickname ‘Panther City’, hence The Panthers team moniker.
The Panthers represented the essence of baseball in America throughout the first half of the 20th century. With roots stretching back to the Civil War, the Southern and Western pride emboldened the players to set unbelievable sports records when they played against their rival northeastern baseball clubs.
From 1919 to 1925, the Panthers won the regular season title for seven straight years; a record that has yet to be equaled to this day. They were at the forefront of the sport and become one of the most famous minor league baseball team of the 1920s. The National Baseball Association recently selected the Fort Worth Panthers as one of the top 100 minor league teams of all time. In fact, this team had so many wins that their name appeared five times on their list. One thing was clear here, these Panthers were not asleep in the dugout!
During the Panthers winning streak, thousands of baseball fans packed the stands to root for the team at nearby Panther Park. The original Panther Park opened in 1911 and was located just north of downtown off Main Street. Baseball enthusiasts poured into Fort Worth once Amon Carter arranged for trains to specifically transport fans from nearby cities to the field. It soon became apparent that a larger park was needed to accommodate the games and owner W. K. Stripling and team secretary Paul LaGrave elected to build a new park that would seat an additional 4,000 people.
LaGrave, a former Texas Leaguer, worked his way up in the Panthers front office to become business manager during the team’s heyday. The stadium site they selected would be a few blocks east of the original field with a calming view of the Trinity River. In 1926, a concrete and steel baseball park was erected, and would seat up to 12,000 fans. After LaGrave’s death in 1929 the park was renamed “LaGrave Field” in his honor.
At first, the new lair did not bring the Panther’s much success; the team could not bring back a championship win for nearly five seasons. Still, much fanfare surrounded LaGrave Field as wide-eyed locals watched major league legends such as Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and Lou Gehrig play against the Panthers, when their teams would travel through on their way to their home fields from spring training. Much to Fort Worth’s relief, the losing-spell was broken, and the club won both the Texas League and the Dixie Series as soon as they entered the next decade. This led the team to officially take to the field as the “Fort Worth Cats” in a triumphant return to the top of minor league baseball in 1932. “The Cats” won another title in 1937 and captured a second Texas League crown in 1939, but these wins did not restart their golden days of the 1920s.
The Cats returned to the postseason with baseball legend Rogers Hornsby at the helm. Raised in Fort Worth, “The Rajah” played on the North Side High School baseball team until the 10th grade; he later dropped out to take on a full-time job in the stockyards so he could support his family. The humble Hornsby went on to have a big-league career that landed him in the Hall of Fame.
In 1942, Hornsby returned to Fort Worth to officially take the reins of the Cats. Under his guidance, the club continued to climb the ranks and had much to look forward to, but their rise was abruptly cut short when World War II put an end to most minor league baseball. That following season the team was forced into a four-year hiatus.
The Cats were ready to roar once peace allowed the Texas League to return in 1946. This time the team returned as a minor league franchise of the Brooklyn Dodgers and was stocked with baseballs finest young athletes. The Cats benefitted from their famous affiliation and stormed the Championship Series to a loop-best 101-53 record. That season also put the spotlight on a 19-year-old U.S. Navy sailor named Duke Snider. Snider would eventually play in the big league and help lead the Dodgers to six World Series. In 1980, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Cats harnessed post-war excitement and evoked a sense of pride in 1948 Texas. The Dodgers sent World Series pinch hitter Bobby Bragan to manage the team and within his first year, the Cats once again won the Texas League title. This win will be the Cats last for the Texas League. "Any man lucky enough to be a Fort Worth Cat was as proud of that as he would have been to play for the New York Yankees." said Bragan. Hearing those words from their Brooklyn Dodgers protégé kept the Cats head held high.
The Cats were unremarkable during 1950s as the Dallas Eagles, Shreveport Sports and Houston Buffaloes battled for Texas League dominance. Greatness was still to come out of the Fort Worth team. The Cats featured Sparky Anderson and Danny Ozark who would go into the Hall of Fame as managers. In 1955., Maury Wills was the first African American player to play for the team. Wills went on to become a five-time All-Star and the 1962 MVP for the Los Angeles Dodgers and became manager for the Mariners in 1980.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, it forced a shuffle in the minor league teams and the Fort Worth franchise was traded to the Chicago Cubs, and then the American Association. Lastly merged with the Dallas Rangers in 1960.
Fort Worth regained a Texas League franchise only in 1964. As minor league baseball was losing popularity in Fort Worth, ticket sales declined, and the field was forced to close. LaGrave Field was torn down in 1967.
The Cats came back in 2001 with new owner, Carl Bell and a new Fort Worth Cats franchise was founded. The new Cats played at Fort Worth’s Lon Goldstein Field while they awaited the construction of the current LaGrave Field.
In 2002, the Cats opened the season in their brand-new home. The team's mascot was Dodger, whose namesake is a tribute to the Cats’ historic Dodgers affiliation.
For a period, the team flourished but one glaring issue was the inability to draw fans post-recession and ticket sales waned. Since the 2014 season, the once lively stadium has been abandoned. It is now little more than a
graffitied shell, with weeds growing over the field. It is unclear what will happen to the deteriorating stadium and if the Fort Worth Cats will ever return. Despite always being against the odds the Cats will always be legends of minor league baseball and now more than ever, a beacon of hope to the many in Fort Worth who deeply anticipate their return.
Cats do have nine lives after all.
Written by Michael Govea of Fort Worth Historical, March 2021