Cape noted for baseball

Yes, baseball fans, there was a Cape Aces team in Cape Girardeau.

St. Louis may be the consummate baseball town today, but Cape Girardeau has long been noted for its baseball teams.

The Cape Capahas have been around what seems like -- and happily so -- forever. The Caps observed a century of baseball in Cape Girardeau in 1994.

At one time the Caps were the only "semi-pro" baseball team in the city. Its roster included many players heading for the professional ranks or those on the way down.

But, from 1926 to 1936, the Cape Girardeau Municipal League consisted of six to eight teams, such as the Haarig Aces, the Shells, the Teachers, Internationals, Franklins, Marquettes, Cape Aces and the Cape Capahas.

Cape Girardeau was "spring training" home to the St. Louis Browns during the World War II years. And, while the Browns were training here, the St. Louis Cardinals trained at nearby Cairo, Ill. The two teams wound up in the World Series in 1943.

"The guys took their baseball seriously," said Lora Lee Aikers, an ardent baseball fan who identified a couple of players in a recent baseball team photograph that appeared on the Faces & Places page of the Southeast Missourian.

"My uncle played for the Haarig Aces," said Aikers. "He also played for the Cape Aces, and a team from the Red Star area."

She was referring to Homer Proffer. Aikers also identified Stein Hinton.

The 1930s-era team photograph was provided to the Missourian by sports fan Larry Kitchen, who was hoping for identification of the players.

Candy Clayton of Scott City, Mo., said her father, Bud Cambron, was in the picture, along with Guy Schwettman.

Jackie Givens said her dad played for the Cape Aces in the early 1950s.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Mueller of Cape provided the complete team information. Mueller's father, James Lynch, was included in the picture, third from right in the back row.

"My father had a copy of this same picture," said Mueller. "He had written the names of all the players on it." Team members included manager Jeff Mattingly, Russell Young, Homer Proffer, Ed Hanson, James Lynch, Stein Hinton, Ralph Beatty, Bud Cambron, Guy Schwettman, Les Hargraves, Bill Turlin, Tom Hill. and mascot Eddie Mahew.

In praise of creatures

A mile down the road from a giant "Happy Face" water tower, motorists cross a narrow railroad bed, on the way into Makanda, Ill. Next to the tracks is a patch of asphalt, an old basketball goal and a stone monument.

The plaque on the monument reads: "In memory of Boomer the hound dog."

The monument marks the grave of Boomer, a train engineer's three-legged dog, who was killed in 1859 when he ran into a bridge abutment while chasing the train and barking to warn his owner about a hotbox fire.

Tradition says Boomer dashed his life out against the iron abutment of the railroad bridge 300 feet south of the monument on Sept. 2, 1859.

Legend was that Boomer could outrun trains. The railroad didn't like that.

Boomer's name is among the more than 4,000 names on the "Famous List of Dogs, Cats and Critters," which features such animal names as Lassie, who needs no introduction; Rin Tin Tin "Rinty," a German shepherd who became famous as a messenger dog during World War II; and the Blue Dog, an "electric" blue dog with piercing yellow eyes who is making Louisiana artist Rodrigres a very wealthy man.

Nixon visit

Many Cape Girardeans were there when Richard Nixon made a whistle-stop in Cape Girardeau during the 1952 presidential election.

"I remember he was running for vice president," said Lora Lee Aikers. "They came in by train at the Frisco station downtown, made their way through a crowd and got into a waiting convertible for the trip to Houck Field House."

More than 1,000 people waited for Sen. Nixon's arrival at the railroad station, and 4,000 people were waiting at the field house. The late Rush H. Limbaugh Jr., who was Cape Girardeau County Republican chairman, is shown at the car door in the picture. Limbaugh had accompanied the Nixon party -- Richard and his wife, Pat , on the train from Festus, Mo. Limbaugh is the father of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.

Cape Girardeau has welcomed numerous politicians through the years, including presidents Ronald Reagan, William Howard Taft, Harry S Truman and Bill Clinton and vice presidents Dan Quayle and Al Gore. Presidential candidates visiting here included Robert F. Kennedy, Bob Dole and George W. Bush.