Baseball In Fort Worth

In 2003, over 160,000 fans watched professional baseball in downtown Fort Worth's near north side. Baseball, which had been played in this north side area since 1911, had returned after a near 40-year absence. Fort Worth's rich tradition of professional baseball dates back to the start of the Texas League of Professional Baseball Clubs in 1888 and includes many players who continued to impact our national pastime at the major league level. Presenting over 170 photographs, programs, and maps this volume documents not only the play on the field, but the fun and excitement off the field as well. The book contains a chapter on Fort Worth's black baseball history, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century, and includes the new discovery of a forgotten ballpark dedicated to the black players and leagues of the early 1900s. Though the details are difficult to trace, this chapter showcases the pride the players demonstrated at the local level and the force they became in the national Negro leagues.

"From 1889 to 1964, the Fort Worth Panthers - unofficially nicknamed the "Cats" - represented the essence of baseball in America. The Texas League franchise was dissolved, however, when major-league baseball completed its national expansion by placing a team (now the Rangers) in nearby Arlington, Texas, and when televised events threatened the core of minor-league sport."--BOOK JACKET.

A History of Fort Worth in Black & White fills a long-empty niche on the Fort Worth bookshelf: a scholarly history of the city's black community that starts at the beginning with Ripley Arnold and the early settlers, and comes down to today with our current battles over education, housing, and representation in city affairs. The book's sidebars on some noted and some not-so-noted African Americans make it appealing as a school text as well as a book for the general reader. Using a wealth of primary sources, Richard Selcer dispels several enduring myths, for instance the mistaken belief that Camp Bowie trained only white soldiers, and the spurious claim that Fort Worth managed to avoid the racial violence that plagued other American cities in the twentieth century. Selcer arrives at some surprisingly frank conclusions that will challenge current politically correct notions.

From its beginnings as an army camp in the 1840s, Fort Worth has come to be one of Texas’s—and the nation’s—largest cities, a thriving center of culture and commerce. But along the way, the city’s future, let alone its present prosperity, was anything but certain. Fort Worth tells the story of how this landlocked outpost on the arid plains of Texas made and remade itself in its early years, setting a pattern of boom-and-bust progress that would see the city through to the twenty-first century. Harold Rich takes up the story in 1880, when Fort Worth found itself in the crosshairs of history as the cattle drives that had been such an economic boon became a thing of the past. He explores the hard-fought struggle that followed—with its many stops, failures, missteps, and successes—beginning with a single-minded commitment to attracting railroads. Rail access spurred the growth of a modern municipal infrastructure, from paved streets and streetcars to waterworks, and made Fort Worth the transportation hub of the Southwest. Although the Panic of 1893 marked another setback, the arrival of Armour and Swift in 1903 turned the city’s fortunes once again by expanding its cattle-based economy to include meatpacking. With a rich array of data, Fort Worth documents the changes wrought upon Fort Worth’s economy in succeeding years by packinghouses and military bases, the discovery of oil and the growth of a notorious vice district, Hell’s Half Acre. Throughout, Rich notes the social trends woven inextricably into this economic history and details the machinations of municipal politics and personalities that give the story of Fort Worth its unique character. The first thoroughly researched economic history of the city’s early years in more than five decades, this book will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Fort Worth, urban history and municipal development, or the history of Texas and the West.

Provides management, field staff, and contact information, league schedules, and ballpark directions for major and minor leagues.

The retiring of a number to honor a player likely began with the New York Yankees. The Yankees were not the first team to experiment with numbers on uniforms to identify players, but they were the first to wear numbers permanently and retired Lou Gehrig's number 4 in 1939. This book covers retired numbers in baseball's major and minor leagues. In the major league section of the book, a player's name is followed by his retired number, the name of the team that retired it, the year that it was retired, the player's primary position, and the teams he was affiliated with during his playing career. The author then presents a brief summary of the player's career and lists any major awards or honors he won. Retiring numbers in the minor leagues is a bit different; a player who excels in the minors isn't usually with a team for long because he is promoted to the majors. In the minor league section, a player's name is followed by a brief summary of his significance. After both the major and minor league sections, readers will find team-by-team and numerical lists of honored players.

This is the story of the Cleburne Railroaders and the 1906 Texas season. Tris Speaker was an 18 year old rookie that season on his way to Baseball's Hall of Fame. Ft. Worth and Dallas battled for the first half flag, but it was Cleburne at season's end that proved to be the best.

Examine the big-league benefits of minor league baseball! The Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports examines the role played by minor league baseball in hundreds of cities and towns across the United States. Written from the unique perspective of a sociologist who also happens to be an avid baseball fan, the book looks at the contributions minor league teams make to the quality of life in their communities, creating focal points for spirit and cohesiveness while providing opportunities for interaction and entertainment. The book links theory and experience to present a “sociology of baseball” that explains the symbiotic relationship which brings people together for a common purpose—to root, root, root for the home team. From the author: Minor league baseball is played across the country in more than 100 very different communities. These communities seem to share a special bond with their teams. As with all sports teams, there is a symbiotic relationship between the team and the city or town that it represents. In the case of major league professional sports, the relationship is often fueled by economic outcomes. On the minor league level, the relationship appears to go beyond mere money and prestige. Minor league teams occupy a special place in our hearts. We are more forgiving when they lose, and extremely proud of them when they win. Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports is a detailed look at the connection between town and team, including: economic benefits (development strategies, community growth) intangible benefits (ballpark camaraderie, hometown pride) fan attachment and attendance (demographic variables, stadium accessibility, “home court advantage”) case studies of two Maryland minor-league franchises--the Class AA Bowie Baysox and the Class A Hagerstown Suns Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports also includes an introduction to the organizational structure of the minor leagues, a history of each current league, and charts and tables on attendance figures and franchise relocations. This book is essential reading for sociologists, sport sociologists/historians, academics and/or practitioners in the fields of community sociology and psychology, and of course, baseball fans.