FOR almost a decade, a multi-million dollar stadium has sat abandoned and unloved at the heart of one of the country’s biggest metroplexes.
Overlooking downtown Fort Worth, LaGrave Field was once home to the city’s only professional baseball team.
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Founded in 1911, the Fort Worth Panthers saw huge success in the early part of the century, winning six straight titles Texas League titles through 1925, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
As such, a new home was required and so the team moved into Panther Park, later renamed LaGrave Field in 1926.
The 12,000 seater stadium unfortunately did not see the same level of success, although it saw its fair share of legends with Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra all taking to its diamond, as per Texas Wesleyan.
Renamed the Cats in 1932, LaGrave Field suffered a devastating fire that destroyed almost 10,000 seats in 1949.
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And just two days later, the city’s worst flood on record added to the damage to the aging stadium.
This did at least provide the team with the opportunity to rebuild the stadium the following year to more modern standards allowing for better views, improved seating, a large press box, and upgraded concessions for hungry fans, as per the THSA.
Baseball continued to be hosted at LaGrave Field through 1964, after which the team left to join the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs in Arlington.
The stadium was eventually demolished in 1967 and the site remained baron for the next 35 years.
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Then in 2002, the Cats returned to the newly constructed $4million LaGrave Field, built on the same site as the original.
The 4,100-seater stadium played host to the Cats until 2014 when they folded once more, thanks to continued financial issues.
Subsequently, nine years of neglect has taken its toll on the ballpark.
Barring the odd seat which has since disappeared, the structure remains fully intact, although vandalism has left its mark across the site.
Graffiti and damage from repeated break-ins are visible across every surface, nowhere more so than across the bruised and battered scoreboard which remains a dominant feature overlooking the Trinity River alongside the stadium.
Nature has begun to reclaim the field with trees taking root between the seats and what was once the diamond.
But despite the near-decade of neglect, the stadium remains a defiant landmark within eyesight of the city’s historic County Court.
And with almost 8million people now calling the DFW Metroplex home, a figure which is rapidly rising, perhaps the Cats will yet return home in the future.
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