Flem Hall: Favorites from Fort Worth

With the perspective of one who might have seen it all, the late Flem Hall describes the standout eras of Jake Atz and Bobby Bragan:

JAKE ATZ

During the Atz regime, public interest boiled for nearly a decade. Hall wrote, “Only those who lived through it can appreciate the throbbing excitement experienced when Atz and his ‘Cats made history. The field leader of spirited teams, Atz was a beloved image of fun and victory. His league records which will not likely be broken include longest Texas League service as field manager (22 years), longest service for one club as manager (18 years), longest continuous service with one club as manager (14 years), most consecutive first-place clubs (seven), most consecutive pennant winners (six), and most Dixie Series titles (five).”

Jake was a legend before he died, largely because he loved to spin yarns. When his jokes were repeated, he never denied them. That’s why the story started that he changed his name from Zimmerman to Atz when he first joined a team whose members received their pay in alphabetical order!

BOBBY BRAGAN

Legendary Bobby Bragan, co-author of the book, You Can’t Hit the Ball With the Bat on Your Shoulder, is not only famed for his days as a major league manager and Texas league president, but he also brought fame to the Fort Worth Cats as a player-manager.

Robert Randall Bragan helped team attendance records tumble as the stocky (5-10, 190 pounds) catcher and leader from Birmingham, Alabama, paraded teams composed of exciting youngsters such as Irv Noran, Dick Williams, and Chico Carrasquel to two first-place, one second and one fourth-spot finished at Fort Worth.

Fort Worth made the brash ballplayer whose baseball travels took him to Los Angeles, Havana, Pittsburgh, Houston, Cleveland, Spokane, Milwaukee, and Atlanta. Bragan is the only former Cats manager to become a field leader of a big league team, and he made it in both the National and American Leagues.

The 76-year-old current special assistant for the Texas Rangers and mastermind of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation which provides funds for much-needed charities began his seven-decade baseball career in the Alabama-Florida League in 1937 and made it to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1940 as an infielder. Traded to Brooklyn in 1943, he started learning to catch. By the time World War II service called, Bragan was a regular. Four years later, though, he chose to come to Fort Worth rather than remain with the Dodgers as a bullpen catcher.

Arriving at midseason 1947, Bragan rallied the Cats, pushed them into first place and won the pennant in a hair-raising playoff. He was still doing an excellent job in 1952 when the fast-moving Brooklyn baseball situation moved him with Branch Rickey, first to California for three seasons. Then he trekked to Pittsburgh where he managed the Pirates in 1956-57 and to Cleveland in 1958, to Spokane in 1958 and ’59, Milwaukee in 1963 and ’64, and Atlanta in 1965-66. After leaving the playing field, Bragan was named president of the Texas League in 1969-74 and in the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs from 1975-77. Known in this area as “Ambassador for Baseball,” Bragan watched younger brother Jimmy Bragan, a college baseball standout at Mississippi State, serve for almost two decades as president of the Southern League before Jimmy announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 1994 campaign.

JOE MACKO

Joe Macko is synonymous with baseball in the entire Metroplex.

He played first base for 1951-52 and ’56 Dallas teams as well as the 1958-59 Fort Worth squads. Since joining the front office of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs in 1967, he has been a permanent figure at both pro ballyards in Arlington. He was general manager of the Dallas-Fort Worth team from 1969-71 before becoming business manager of the Texas Rangers in 1972. Since then he has been a popular equipment manager and clubhouse caretaker for over 20 years.

His association with the numerous Rangers managers and players has been up close and personal. Some of his favorites, though the list is too long to publish here, are hustling Mike Hargrove, Toby Harrah, Jim Sundberg, Gaylord Perry, Buddy Bell, and Fergie Jenkins.

The Clinton, Ohio, native broke in with Batavia of the Pony League in 1948 and last appeared in uniform at the end of the 1970 season for the Dallas-Fort Worth squad.

“Many of our players had been called for military duty,” Joe remembers, “and Joe Altobelli (Spurs manager) suggested that I go on the active list for the last three days. That meant that I was on an active list in four different decades.”

Possibly his biggest claim to fame came in 1951 at Burnett Field in Dallas when Macko played a nine-inning game against Houston without recording a putout, assist, or error. No one knows how many times that has occurred in pro baseball or on any level, but zero chances at first ranks as a near-impossibility.

Joe managed in the Chicago Cubs system for four seasons at St. Cloud (1961), Wenatchee (1962 and 1964), and Amarillo (1963). At St. Cloud in the Northern League, Macko tutored a rookie outfielder named Lou Brock, destined for Hall of Fame immortality.

Joe and Dorothy Macko are parents of four children, and their oldest son, Steve, was a promising infielder for the Chicago Cubs in 1979-80 before being stricken with a fatal illness. Mike Macko recently completed a two-year career with Texas Christian University.

The Mackos have sponsored the “Steve Macko Run” for several years to raise funds for cancer research.

L.D. LEWIS

Which Fort Worth minor league great of the following had the longest tenure of service — Jake Atz, John Reeves, Paul LaGrave, Ziggy Sears, Lee Stebbins?

Actually, it was none of the above diamondmen. Former Fort Worth Polytechnic High School standout L.D. Lewis actually served as everything from an usher to general manager during a 1940-66 period with the Texas League unit. Also working as operations manager, business manager, and finally general manager, he was TL “Outstanding Front Office Executive” in 1966 before he moved to Little Rock as general manager of the Arkansas Travelers. Lewis left organized baseball to take over as operations manager of the Dallas Cowboys in 1968.