Capahas are a major reason behind area’s connection to local baseball

If you’re a Major League Baseball fan, this is the time of year things get really interesting. Fans, along with players and coaches, are watching the scoreboard every night to see if their team gained ground in the standings. The St. Louis Cardinals’ comeback should make for a fun September of meaningful games.

While people will more often talk about the Cardinals, local baseball is where the sport begins.

Jim Limbaugh, president of the Cape Catfish, told me last month that Cape Girardeau is a nice little baseball town. That doesn’t happen overnight. Props to the Catfish on a great season, but the footholds of baseball in Southeast Missouri are deep and rich with tradition.

During World War II the St. Louis Browns made Cape Girardeau their spring training home. The National League Cardinals settled in nearby Cairo, Illinois for their home spring schedule. The teams eventually met in the 1944 World Series that was played at Sportsman’s Park.

Both of the Dean brothers were in Cape Girardeau during the 1943 spring training. Dizzy Dean, the famed St. Louis Cardinals pitcher, was retired from playing but continued his affiliation as a radio sports announcer. His younger brother Daffey Dean was a member of the 1943 Browns. To learn more about Southeast Missouri’s connection to professional baseball, read the story by late B. Ray Owen that appears below.

Of course any historical look at baseball in Southeast Missouri has to include the Capahas.

America’s oldest semi-pro team, the Capahas finished their 125th season this summer with a record of 20-13. They were unable to play another eight games due to weather and scheduling conflicts with other teams.

This was the team’s second year to participate in the Mon-Clair Baseball League. After winning the regular season title in the St. Clair Division for the second consecutive year, the Capahas fell short of the championship with a semi-finals loss to the eventual champion from Millstadt, Illinois.

Manager Tom Bolen told me Friday morning that participating in the league offers the Caphas a lighter travel schedule than playing as an independent team while still getting in a fair number of games. Being part of the league has also saved on costly travel.

Bolen said the team still plans to compete in the league next summer. They will keep their affiliation with the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kansas, even though they were not able to play in the tournament this summer. One of the big differences between the Mon-Clair League and playing as an independent team is the use of aluminum bats as opposed to wood bats. Bolen prefers the wood bats, which he said “separates the men from the boys,” but the Mon-Clair League chooses to go with aluminum bats.

Bolen, whose own playing career for the Capahas ended seven seasons ago, said he considers it an honor to be associated with Cape Girardeau’s original team and to put on the jersey with the Capahas logo on the front.

His father, Jess Bolen, managed the team for 50 years. He’s now the general manager. The late Mary Bolen was the team’s chief organizer and fundraiser up until her death in 2017. Bolen said before his parents got involved, Noah Kitchen, a cousin, had worked with the team. So the Bolen family has been connected with the Capahas for nearly half the team’s history.

“[It’s] just special knowing that you’re giving a local kid, the majority of the time, a place to play for free and help him get to the next level, whether it be the minors or a scholarship to go to school or whatnot,” Bolen said.

The 2019 team was the youngest Bolen has known. The oldest player was 21, with most of the squad made of 19- and 20-year-olds. About 99% of the team, according to Bolen, was from a town within a 30-mile radius of Cape Girardeau.

Bolen talks a lot about giving back. In previous seasons, the alumni game was used as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. While the 2019 game was canceled, Bolen said volunteers are already working to bring it back next summer.

The team also conducted a series of one-day baseball camps as a way of giving back to local communities, something Bolen hopes to grow in future years.

He said the team is looking for a new sponsor to help offset the costs of running the team. But in the meantime, it’s the grass-roots support of boosters (and a lot of heart and hustle) that keeps the tradition going.

Congratulations to the Capahas on their 125th season. Here’s hoping the team can continue this rich baseball tradition for many years to come.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.