The LaGrave Field lease for the Fort Worth Cats (independent; United League Baseball) will not be renewed for the 2015 season, leaving the team without a home.
The Cats — both this version and the previous independent American Association version — played at the renovated LaGrave Field, where Carl Bell spent some serious money on a new ballpark set at the original LaGrave Field site. The original LaGrave Field, which was inhabited by a mainstay in the Texas League, was left empty following the 1964 season when the American Association’s Fort Worth Cats left town. In 2002 the reconstituted LaGrave Field opened, with the original dugouts restored and used for premium seating. Bell gave up control of the ballpark in 2010.
Mark Presswood of Panther Real Estate Solutions — interestingly, the author of Baseball in Fort Worth from Arcadia Books — is representing an investor working on a LaGrave Field area redevelopment. Team owner John Bryant says the team will look for a new home in North Texas, but we’re already at the end of 2014 — a tough schedule for launching a new team.