Tarrant County Blue Thunder

This page is dedicated to the Tarrant County Blue Thunder independent professional baseball team. It played only one season, during the 2007 Continental Baseball League season which was the league’s first season. The team then moved to McKinney, Texas and played as the McKinney Blue Thunder in 2008.

The old TarrantProBall.com website still exists, although the content is difficult to access.

Photo sent to us by Scott Blankenship

Roster

Here is the roster for the 2007 Tarrant County Blue Thunder: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=205e7fd9

Most of the player pages which existed on the old TarrantProBall.com website redirect/default back to the home page. One which still is live is for the Blue Thunder’s catcher (and 2007 CBL Championship series MVP) Joe Pagan: http://www.tarrantproball.com/team/roster/index.html?player_id=23

Statistics

Articles

Announcement of the formation of the Blue Thunder from a February 2007 press release: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20070207005022/en/Professional-Baseball-LewisvilleDenton-County-KellerNE-Tarrant-County

Article about Curtis Wilkerson from before the 2007 season started: http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish-/Baseball_20/Former_Ranger_Wilkerson_Has_New_Challenge_printer.shtml

Short recap from forum of 2007 CBL championship: http://www.mwcboard.com/index.php?/topic/9424-they-win-the-cbl-championship/

Most of the pages on the old TarrantProBall.com website default (redirect) to just a few remaining live pages. Here is one still live about an announcement for the ribbon cutting event at Cross Timbers Park. It was scheduled for May 9, 2007: http://www.tarrantproball.com/news/pressreleases/index.html?article_id=79

Blog post about the first victory in Blue Thunder history, a 2-1 win over the Bay Area Toros: http://texsportpub.blogspot.com/2007/05/bay-area-toros-lose-2-1-to-blue-thunder.html

Here is an interview with Blue Thunder catcher, Joe Pagan, who ended up earning the 2007 CBL championship MVP award. It is from the Archive.org snapshot of the original TarrantProBall.com website: Click Here

Found an archive.org article from the old TarrantProBall.com website called “5 Minutes With Josh Blackstock”. Here is the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20071104145723/http://www.tarrantproball.com:80/news/pressreleases/index.html?article_id=35

Here are more game recap articles from the Blue Thunder when they played the Toros: http://texsportpub.blogspot.com/search/label/Tarrant%20County%20Blue%20Thunder

Mention of Karl Krailo being signed by the Blue Thunder and becoming MVP of the 2007 All-Star Game: http://www.acbl-online.com/news.aspx?season=2007

July 25, 2007 article from the Houston Chronicle of a game between the Tarrant County Blue Thunder and the Bay Area Toros: https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/Scoring-high-low-Toros-lose-ground-9559156.php

April 2020 “get to know” interview with Alan Betourne, now the head baseball coach for the Monmouth Fighting Scots: https://monmouthscots.com/news/2020/4/28/get-to-know-20-questions-with-baseballs-alan-betourne.aspx

Nice story on the comebacks for former Tarrant County Blue Thunder player Josh Blackstock. This article is from the Washington Wild Things blog back in 2009: http://wildthingsblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/

Another mention of Josh Blackstock joining the Frontier League in 2009: https://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/lead-off-sparkplug-blackstock-joins-crushers/n-3791919

Audio

I found the archive.org link which showed the Blue Thunder games which were broadcast online, but the actual audio files (MP3 or other) do not exist anywhere yet. I have reached out to the third party service to determine if they have the archived audio files of the games and, if so, what arrangements can be made so that CBL alumni and fans can listen to the old games. No reply has yet been received but I will continue to try. Here is that link: click here

https://web.archive.org/web/20070715025056/http://www.audiosportsonline.net/DavRadio/Tarrant/Broadcast.htm

Images

Here is a game program and scorecards for a game with the Tarrant County Blue Thunder when the team hosted the Lewisville Lizards. Thanks to former Blue Thunder player, Alan Betourne, for this photo:

Credit to Alan Betourne again for the following photos:

Videos

Here is the playlist of YouTube videos relating in some way to the Tarrant County Blue Thunder (2007 CBL champions):