AFTER 34 YEARS IN THE BALLPARK, JESS BOLEN STILL GOING STRONG

Jess Bolen has been involved with Capahas baseball for more than one-third of the team's existence. And he shows no signs of letting up soon.

Bolen, a lifelong Cape Girardeau resident, started playing for the Capahas in 1959 at the age of 17. Now, at 51, he's in the middle of his 27th season as the squad's manager. That's the longest managerial run in the 100-year history of the tradition-rich team.

"I didn't even want to get into coaching at all," he recalled with a laugh. "But the team was about to fold up and all the players came over to my house and asked me if I would manage the team.

"I said, yeah, I'd do it for one year, until they found somebody else. They never did."

And so began a brilliant managerial career that has seen Bolen lift the Cape Girardeau summer baseball team to an elite status on the amateur level in this country.

Under the leadership of Bolen, the Capahas have since the early 1980s been an annual fixture in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. And quite often they do well.

In 1988, the Capahas finished fifth in the nation, which is their all-time high-water mark. Last season they tied for 11th.

"We've had some really good tournaments out in Wichita," said Bolen. "We can compete with those teams out there."

Bolen's career win-loss record as manager of the Capahas is a glittering 886-289, and his 1993 team carried a 28-8 mark into the NBC State Tournament that began Friday night at Capaha Park. Action continues today; the state tourney concludes next weekend.

The Capahas, founded in 1894, hit a lull during the 1960s and experienced little success during Bolen's early playing days. In fact, Bolen didn't much like the way things were going.

"We were a bunch of losers," he said without hesitation. "The year before I took over we played 20 games and lost 14.

"The first year I was manager, we played the same number of games (20) and had the opposite record, 14-6. That's been our worst record since then."

Bolen, a Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate, is a plumber-pipefitter by trade. Combining his full-time job with his almost full-time position of running the Capahas from May until August each year consumes plenty of time.

"You put in some long days," he said.

Bolen has no official coaches with the Capahas, but he definitely has a treasured assistant his wife, Mary, who takes care of the bulk of the team's fund-raising efforts and helps out with virtually all aspects of the organization.

"None of this could have been possible without Mary," he said. "If Mary hadn't raised all that money down the years, there wouldn't be the team there is.

"Me and Mary have gotten this team to a certain level of national respect. We're thought of highly all over the nation. That's quite an accomplishment, and Mary deserves a lot of credit. She's worked herself to the bone."

Capaha baseball always has been a big part of the Bolen family. In fact, Jess missed the birth of one of their four children because of a state tourney game.

"Michelle was born while we were in the state tournament," he said with a laugh. "I told Mary I don't think she'd love me if I didn't coach the Capahas. She said she just can't imagine us without baseball."

Mary probably won't have to confront that situation for some time because Jess appears to be going as strong as ever. Asked how long he plans to keep on managing the Capahas, he grinned and said, "I think when I turn 80, that's going to be it."