Here’s your chance to own a piece of LaGrave Field before it gets knocked down
The Tarrant Regional Water District will be auctioning off pieces of LaGrave Field stadium before the 23-year-old structure gets demolished.
Bidders will have an opportunity to bring home some of the stadium’s seats, concrete pavers, and even railings emblazoned with the logo of the minor-league baseball team the Fort Worth Cats, which once called LaGrave Field home.
The online auction will go live at 9 a.m. Oct. 22, and will run till Nov. 5, according to a press release from the water district.
Starting bids range from $5 for a pair of seats, to $55 for row of 17, according to the online auction website.
In March, a consultant report recommended demolishing the field’s grandstand as part of a larger redevelopment plan for the future Panther Island.
The water district’s board voted unanimously at its June 18 meeting to demolish the grandstand reasoning it was too expensive to fix. The water district has paid $195,000 annually a year on security and maintenance for the stadium.
While the stadium is a relatively new, LaGrave Field holds historical significance.
Baseball legends like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Lou Gehrig all took their turns gracing the base paths during while the field was home to the minor-league Fort Worth Cats from 1926 to around 1962. The original grandstand was demolished in 1967.
The current LaGrave Field Stadium opened in 2002 after Fort Worth developer Carl Bell purchased the property in 2001. The resurrected Fort Worth Cats played as in independent league team at the stadium until 2014.
It’s been shuttered ever since.
The Water District took ownership of the field in 2019 with plans to restore the stadium in partnership with nonprofit Save LaGrave. The deal fell apart in September 2020 after the foundation failed to meet certain deadlines, according to the water district’s general council.
The district board approved a $328,000 contract will Dallas-based Lloyd D. Nabors Demolition at its Oct. 15 meeting. The demolition is expected sometime in mid-November.
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