Baseball is a tradition in Cape Girardeau. On Friday I was honored and privileged to stand with some of the "greats" in Cape Girardeau baseball history as we announced officially our entry into the Collegiate Wood Bat Prospect League.

John "Doc" Yallaly, Bill Bohnert and Jess Bolen have devoted their lives to the game of baseball and nurturing youth and young adults to maturity via the game of baseball. Thousands of old time stories could be told when those three get together. I certainly enjoyed hearing just a few of them while they visited before and after the news conference.

Capaha Field will be changing with major improvements over the next 18 months. It is a great and historic setting in Capaha Park due to the hard work of those individuals previously mentioned. The Capaha Field Committee led by Jess Bolen and the Bolen family brought the field from literally a dirt track into a quality and presentable field that became suitable for play for the Capahas and Southeast Missouri State University. Most recently, a partnership between the City of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State enabled the completion of the new all turf field and scoreboard.

The owner of our new team is local resident and businessman Andy Patel. His management team at this point includes Jim Limbaugh and general manager Mark Hogan, retired baseball coach at Southeast. Once again I want to thank Andy for his confidence in our city.

There are many other individuals who have directly or indirectly been involved in the success of baseball in Cape Girardeau through support and or sponsorships. Several that I would highlight include Mark and Scott Rhodes, Mike and Mark Kohlfeld, Doc and Kevin Ford, Jim and Jeff Maurer, Gary, Jon and Rex Rust and Earl Norman. They and others deserve our thanks for bringing baseball to this point in the history of our great city.

The addition of this team, yet to be named, will definitely be an economic driver for our city as out-of-state fans, family and major league scouts will be coming to Cape Girardeau to attend games.

I would refer you to the weekend edition of the Southeast Missourian for complete details of the announcement. Also complete Prospect League details can be found on their web site: www.prospectleague.com.

Stay tuned as announcements of both construction and team developments will be forthcoming during 2018.

I will tell you that there will be lots of baseball action at Capaha in 2019 with the Capahas, American Legion and our new Prospect League team playing during that summer season.

Harry E. Rediger is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.