Fort Worth Cats’ future is now out of owner’s hands

By JIM REEVES

"Unfulfilled dreams," is the way Carl Bell put it, and that sums it up about as well as it can be said.

Beyond the money, behind the high finance and the negotiations between banks and buyers and who knows how many government entities, is a man who loves baseball, and even more, the Fort Worth Cats, and all that name means to this city.

In essence, Carl Bell gave his own breath and blood so that the legendary Fort Worth Cats, like the Phoenix, could rise out of their own ashes and live again.

So as he prepares to bid them goodbye, you bet there’s heartbreak.

Bell doesn’t want to and can’t talk about all the financial things going on with the sale of the Cats, and that’s not why I’d called for anyway. What I wanted to know was about the emotions he was going through as each step he takes draws him closer to the end of his ownership of the team he has loved so dearly.

Even then, he spoke haltingly about something that means so much to him.

"It’s a difficult time and it’s an emotional time for me and my family," Bell said. "The Cats have come back after a 37-year absence (1964-2001). That [Fort Worth without the Cats] should not happen again. It can’t.

"I’m going to do whatever I can to work with whoever I need to work with to be sure that doesn’t happen again, for the community, the fans, for Fort Worth."

The problem for Bell is that he can’t control the Cats’ future anymore. The banks are driving the bus now, and that means the bottom line takes precedence over everything else. There’s not much room for sentiment or emotion. If it’s a good business decision to keep the Cats viable at LaGrave Field, then that’s what will happen. Otherwise ...

"LaGrave Field is a centerpiece, a cornerstone, of the revitalization of greater downtown Fort Worth," Bell said. "It’s vital that it be preserved as a community outdoor venue; the history, the tradition, what it means now and will mean in the future for the city."

That’s Bell’s viewpoint, of course. Hopefully, the new owner of the property, whoever that is, will see it that way, too.

Except for that 37-year hiatus, the Cats have been a part of Fort Worth since 1888, and for many LaGrave Field is hallowed ground. Some 50-odd Hall of Famers have played there. It has provided a lovely evening of entertainment for hundreds of thousands of Fort Worth baseball fans over the years.

"At the end of the day, nobody can take away that we brought back the Fort Worth Cats, and we rebuilt LaGrave Field, and it’s an asset to the community in many ways beyond dollars and cents," Bell said. "There will be, there is already, some sadness there, but I’m OK with that.

"Like so many things, sometimes it’s just not meant to be, that you take something beyond a certain level. Like so many things in life, in business and in sports, change is inevitable.

"In the future, if I’m just sitting along the third-base line, watching a game with Carroll Beringer, Mike Napoli, Jack Lindsey, Joe Macko, that’s OK ... it’s OK."

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