When Panthers Roared : The Fort Worth Cats and Minor League Baseball

by Guinn, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9780875652054
• ISBN10: 0875652050
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

From 1889 to 1964, the Fort Worth Panthers -- unofficially nicknamed and always known as the Cats -- represented the essence of baseball in America. In their early seasons they reflected the outraged pride of the South and West in a bitter rivalry with the northeastern baseball powers, a regional disaffection whose roots stretched back to the Civil War. (The first official baseball game in Texas was played just after the war; the competing Texas teams were nicknamed the Stonewall Jacksons and the R. E. Lees). The Cats franchise was finally dissolved when major league baseball completed its national expansion by placing a team in nearby Arlington.

In between, the Cats set professional sports records that have never been equaled, including winning the Texas League title six years in a row and establishing themselves as perhaps the most famous minor league team in baseball history. From vintage Panthers such as power-hitting first baseman Clarence "Big Boy" Kraft and colorful Hall-of-Fame manager Rogers Hornsby to more modern Cats heroes such as Duke Snider, Car

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Remains of LaGrave Field	1	(4)
Baseball Comes to Texas	5	(8)
The Birth of the Texas League	13	(8)
The Early Panthers	21	(12)
Atz's Cats	33	(14)
Dropping Back to the Pack	47	(8)
Mr. Rickey	55	(8)
The Bragan Era	63	(24)
Cocky Cats	87	(18)
The Beginning of the End	105	(8)
The End of the Cats	113	(18)
Afterword	131	(1)
Index	132