Capahas suddenly in need of new sponsor

~ The team could fold after the loss of its longtime sponsor

Capahas baseball manager Jess Bolen has received a lot of recognition and compiled a 1465-392 record over the 47 years that he's spent coaching one of the oldest amateur baseball teams in the nation.

But there's still one thing that he hasn't achieved yet, and after Plaza Tire Service suddenly ended its 10-year sponsorship of the Capahas on Monday, he may never have the chance to accomplish it.

"I would trade all the honors that I've gotten in my life for one national title," Bolen said Tuesday night in the press box at Capaha Field, referring to the National Baseball Congress World Series.

The Capahas, which have been in existence since 1894, could fold if they are not able to come up with sponsorship within the next week.

The team, which plays its home games at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, has been the summer home for hundreds of players, including many on the current Southeast Missouri State baseball roster, who could be looking for a new place to play this summer.

"I've got to know something in a week," Bolen said. "Maybe not somebody that'll say, 'OK, we'll go that amount' but say 'We're in. We're going to do it. Go ahead.' Something like that. Because here's the thing: you've got 40-something games scheduled. You owe it to those other teams to let them know as soon as possible so they can try to fill those days, which is going to be almost impossible for them to do.

"For instance, we've got one team coming in here that's going to stay overnight like Saturday and Sunday or Friday and Saturday -- they've probably got motel reservations and everything so they need to know these things, so I can't just wait around."

The season opener for the Capahas is set for June 1, less than two months away.

Bolen was shocked when he found out Monday that Plaza Tire's sponsorship of the Capahas would be ending after a decade -- he's not angry, but noted that the timing being so close to the season starting is a big issue.

He said that when he and his wife Mary met with the sponsors in September as they do after every season, they discussed getting new uniforms and were told to get prices from two different sporting good stores before a decision would be made.

"That doesn't sound like somebody that's quitting," Bolen said.

"I don't want to make a big issue out of it because I don't want to put pressure on the city or anybody else to do this," Bolen said. "And Plaza Tire, I certainly don't want to say anything derogatory toward them because they've been unbelievably great. This is their right and this is their business they're running. They know what they need to do for their business, not me.

"I'll say this, they were just unbelievably great to this ball club and there's no way I could respect them more than I do. It's just the timing wasn't good."

Plaza Tire issued a press release Monday announcing the conclusion of the sponsorship.

"After ten seasons together, Plaza Tire Service's sponsorship of Capahas Baseball will conclude," the release said. "The partnership has been successful for both parties as Plaza Tire Service funded the team in return for the team's naming rights. Plaza Tire Service wishes Capahas Baseball continued success in the future as they plan their upcoming season."

Bolen has had some response from people that are interested in sponsoring the team. He didn't give an exact figure for what it would take to fund the team for this season, but according to a the press release from Plaza Tire, over its 10-season sponsorship "fees exceeded hundreds of thousands of dollars."

The best-case scenario would be for a single corporate sponsor to replace Plaza Tire, but Bolen is not against having multiple contributing sponsors instead.

"Usually sponsors will stay five or six years with a summer team like that. They stayed 10," Bolen said. "That was the best sponsor we ever had by far. Great people to work with you and everything, and I'm going to miss the association with them."

While Bolen has decades invested into the Capahas, he cares more about the team's importance to the players that have played for him and the importance of the team's history to the city of Cape Girardeau.

"It's not my team. It's Cape's team," Bolen said. "It's the oldest amateur summer wood bat baseball team in the history of baseball anywhere in the nation. That is a unique team. It's not only a loss to me. It's been kind of my love to run a team like this. It's Cape's loss because that's a unique thing to have something that's the No. 1 or best in the world -- not that we're the best team in the world, but it's something that nobody else has."