When Panthers Roared: The Fort Worth Cats and Minor League Baseball

From 1889 to 1964, the Fort Worth Panthers—unofficially nicknamed and always known as the Cats—represented the essence of baseball in America. In their early seasons they reflected the outraged pride of the South and West in a bitter rivalry with the northeastern baseball powers, a regional disaffection whose roots stretched back to the Civil War. (The first official baseball game in Texas was played just after the war; the competing Texas teams were nicknamed the Stonewall Jacksons and the...