Fort Worth Cats - The Fort Worth Panthers

The Fort Worth Panthers

The Fort Worth Panthers, also called the Fort Worth Cats, were a minor league baseball team which played in the Texas League from its founding in 1888 until 1959. The club won league championships in 1895, 1905, and 1906, but from 1920 - 1925, the Panthers won every Texas League pennant, and defeated the Southern Association champion in the Dixie Series in all but one year.

During the late 1910s and early 1920s, Major League Baseball teams would play in Fort Worth against the Panthers on their way from spring training to their home parks. Texas fans enjoyed watching such major leaguers as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby play in their home town.

The Panthers had a winning streak from 1919 to 1925 when they won the regular season title seven years straight. In 1919 they failed to win the playoff for the season, but represented the Texas League in them for the next six years, in what was known as the Dixie Series. The Dixie Series was a championship series between the league champions of the Southern and Texas Leagues, both of which had established themselves as some of the best in baseball. Because of this, the Series was a big ordeal in the early twenties- Amon Carter and other fans would arrange special trains to ensure the avid fans had transportation to these games. Five of the six Series Championships were won by Fort Worth their only loss coming in 1922 to Mobile.

The Panthers won both the Texas League and the Dixie Series in 1930, 1937, and 1939. Rogers Hornsby was the Panthers' manager in 1942, but World War II put an end to much of minor league baseball.

Doyle Williams, an FBI agent who portrayed Governor John Connally in the Warren Commission's 1964 reenactment of the Kennedy Assassination, briefly played in the Cats organization in the Mid-1930's.

Following the War, the Panthers became a minor league franchise of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1948, the Dodgers sent Bobby Bragan to manage the team, which won its last Texas League and Dixie Series championships. The first African American player to play for the Panthers was Maury Wills, in 1955.

When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1957, it caused them to shuffle their minor league teams. The Fort Worth franchise was traded to the Chicago Cubs. In 1959, Fort Worth left the Texas League to join the American Association, but they merged with the Dallas Rangers the following year. Fort Worth regained a Texas League franchise for 1964 only, after which there was no professional baseball in Fort Worth for 36 years.