Next year will mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Fort Worth Cats, the fabled minor-league baseball team that was a Dodgers farm club where several famous players got their start.
Beginning in 1926, LaGrave Field was the team's home for almost 40 years. After a more-than-60-year hiatus, a reincarnation of the team and the stadium emerged in 2002 to continue the city's storied baseball legacy.Both got off to a good start, but it wasn't long before team and stadium owner Carl Bell, walloped by a downturn in the economy, was in financial trouble. When his plan for a 58-acre multiuse development around the 5,200-seat ballpark failed, Bell defaulted on a $30 million loan that had been collateralized using the team, stadium and 46.5 acres.Much of the land was sold to the Tarrant Regional Water District in 2010. Bell sold the team last December.The stadium, the subject of at least four foreclosure notices in the past two years, went on the block, and for a long time there were no takers. There had been suggestions that the city, county or water district buy it to preserve it.This week on the Tarrant County Courthouse lawn, FW Stadium Group Llc., an affiliate of the ownership group that bought the team, purchased LaGrave Field for $4.5 million. The sale for now ensures that the Cats will have a home field and that the stadium will not be demolished to make way for other development in the Trinity Uptown project.That purchase by a private company also eliminates the need for a public entity to own property that for many reasons -- including keeping it on the tax rolls -- should remain part of a private enterprise.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
