NO DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH; CAPAHA FIELD NOW SPARKLES

Primarily because of improvements made over the past decade, the main baseball diamond in Capaha Park is now widely regarded as one of the best fields in the region.

And the Capaha Field Improvement Committee -- which is primarily responsible for everything that is done with the field -- is not about to rest on its laurels. More improvements are in the works for the immediate future.

"It's one of the nicest fields around now and we're going to continue to make it better," said Jess Bolen, the Kohlfeld Capahas' longtime manager who serves as chairman of the Capaha Field Improvement Committee (CFIC).

Capaha Field serves as the home playing field for Cape Girardeau's highest-level baseball teams, including Southeast Missouri State University, the Capahas and Ford & Sons American Legion. Several other teams use the field during the summer months, including the local Junior Legion and Babe Ruth squads.

"When we (the CFIC) first started about 10 years ago, our main objective was to move the fences back and put grass on the infield," he said. "Since then so many other things have been done to make the field better."

In addition to moving the fences back (which required moving the lights back) and converting to a grass infield, some of the other major improvements made at Capaha Field over the years have included:

New dugouts; replacing the grandstands (Cape Kiwanis furnished money to buy material for the grandstands and the city of Cape Girardeau donated the labor); new batting cages in left field; purchasing a tarpaulin to cover the field; putting a warning track around the outfield; putting in an underground sprinkling system to water the outfield and infield; putting up an impressive, state-of-the-art scoreboard (with the help of Bi-State Oil Co.).

Just a few weeks ago, another new batting cage was put in. And Bolen said that two new foul poles -- which with run 45 feet above the ground and feature wire mesh, just like the Cardinals use -- have been built and will be going up in the next month.

In addition, a 60-foot flag pole has been ordered and will be going up soon.

"Some of the other things we've talked about that we'd like to do, along with the city and SEMO, is renovate the bathroom and do something so we have a place to change clothes for umpires and things like that," Bolen said. "We're also going to buy new equipment to take care of the field. We're getting a new mower and a new storage shed to take care of equipment."

The CFIC is a self-supporting organization -- it even has a full-time groundskeeper in its employment -- that raises money in various ways, including selling advertisement through outfield, scoreboard and booster board signs.

"Any businesses or any individuals that are interested in buying advertisement through the signs, or individual who want to be on the booster board sign, should contact myself or anybody else on the committee," said Bolen. "We're constantly trying to improve the park and so we're constantly needing to raise money."

In addition to Bolen as chairman, Kevin Ford is vice-chairman, Jay Crosnoe is treasurer and field chairman and Mark Hogan is secretary while other board members are John "Doc" Yallaly, Bob Blank, Don Hopper, Mike Uhls, Terry Ashby, Ron Michel, Mike Kohlfeld and Jeff Unterreiner.

"We've got one of the best fields you'll find any place and it continues to get better," said Hogan, Southeast's baseball coach. "It really is impressive."

Businesses or individuals wishing to help out can call Bolen at 334-3427 or contact anybody else involved with the CFIC.