CAPAHAS THE OLDEST KNOWN AMATEUR BASEBALL TEAM

There are different theories of where baseball came from and exactly how long the game has existed.

Some believe that today's version of the game evolved from a game called rounders in the 1600s. Others believe Abner Doubleday invented the sport in 1839 and it is widely thought that Alexander Cartwright organized the first baseball league in 1845.

Given the history involved with the national pastime, it seems quite unbelievable that Cape Girardeau is believed to be the home of the oldest amateur baseball team in the United States.

The Capahas -- named after the flour company and not the Capaha Indian tribe -- go as far back as 1894, but it is not known for certain that it was their first year of existence.

What is known, is that the Capahas have fielded and played against some outstanding players.

In the early decades of this century, many professional ball players would play on "barnstorming" teams and play against teams like the Capahas.

In 1931, Dizzy Dean -- now a Hall of Famer -- pitched a game for the Charleston team against the Caps.

"I'll strike out 15 of those Capahas in Sunday's game at Charleston," Dean told the press before the Oct. 11 game in 1931. "I could beat those bush leaguers pitching left-handed. Those Cape boys might as well leave their bats at home."

After finding out that Capahas manager Bill Sullivan landed Cape star and former Major League pitcher Elam Vangilder to pitch the game, Dean said: "I thought I would have some opposition."

Vangilder stole the show, striking out an astounding 22 batters, beating Dean -- who had nine strike outs -- and the Charleston team 4-0.

Vangilder must have made it look easy on that fall day in 1931.

But it hasn't been a smooth road for the Caps.

The Capahas nearly folded several times for various reasons.

In 1921, the team was disbanded due to finances, then reorganized the next year. In August of 1922, the the team was disbanded again.

In the early 1930s, most of the Capahas players left in a group to play for Charleston. The Capahas went into a period of decline, but a team was still fielded.

Marvin Gockel took over as manager in 1936 and departed players returned to the Capahas, suddenly putting the team in one of its strongest periods.

The war years followed and there was another period of decline until 1943, when the St. Louis Browns came to Cape Girardeau for spring training.

Television and other sources of entertainment hindered the Capahas in the 50s, as the team started drawing smaller and smaller crowds.

Crowds had been dropping off ever since the peak years in the mid-1940s, and in the mid-1950s they fell to an extremely low level. In 1955, the Kiwanis reluctantly dropped sponsorship and the old Capahas died.

The team was reorganized by Marvin Green in 1961, and it joined the Perry County League, which in 1963 was changed to the Bi-States League.

Noah Kitchen took over as manager in 1963, and the team still could not recapture its former glory.

Then Jess Bolen, who had started playing for the team in 1959, took over as manager in 1967. Since then, the Capahas have once again thrived; over the last decade they have become one of the premier teams in the nation.

During the 1970s, the Capahas annually battled for the Bi-States League title. Many area teams folded over the years, and by 1980 there was no longer a Bi-States League. Yet the Capahas kept improving and continued to thrive, playing an independent schedule that features upwards of 50 games every year.

During their strongest periods, the old Capahas were usually made up of players heading for professional ball or those on the way down, but still very talented players. At one time, in 1947, the Caps were proud of the fact that 11 former players were in professional baseball.

In the early decades, it wasn't uncommon for the Caps to draw more than 1,000 fans each Sunday.

In 1949, with the opening of a new park grandstand in what was officially called Capaha Park, night baseball came to Cape Girardeau and the Caps played two nights a week.

Since Bolen took over the team, the Capahas' worst record has been 14-6, and that came in his first season. Since then the Caps have averaged well over 30 victories per year, and, like in the old days, they have been bolstered by several ex- and future pros. The majority of their players are from Southeast Missouri.

The Caps won their first-ever state amateur baseball championship in 1980 and have won it 10 times since.

The all-time glory season for the Capahas came in 1988, when they finished fifth in the National Baseball Congress World Series.

In 1987 the Caps won their first 28 games. That year, the Capahas went 16 games without committing an error, which Bolen believes is an all-baseball record. The most games without an error in major league baseball is 13 games.

"That's just unheard of," Bolen said of the error-free streak. "Some of the fields we play on is not really conducive to playing baseball."

In the 1990s, the Caps have won seven state championships.

"The (amateur) baseball talent in this area is generally as good as there is in the nation," said Bolen, who has seen more than 30 Capahas players get signed into the professional ranks. "We always compete well in the national tournament."