Cape Girardeau History and Photos

June 4, 2010

Cape’s a Swinging Town for Baseball

All the big hoopla about the blown perfect game brought my attention to a bunch of baseball and softball pictures I debated not running because the negatives were in lousy shape.

Then, I figured if an umpire can make a mistake, then maybe I’ll make one by letting you see my bad pix.

Playing baseball next to gravestones

This must have been taken at Notre Dame High School near the New Lorimier Cemetery. Because of the unusual location of the game, I left it in even though it is scratched all to pieces.

They take the game seriously

You’d think the World Series was on the line from the way some of these guys are giving their all. I learned later that shooting batters swinging away at the plate is the photographic equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Real sports photographers would rather get photos of plays on base.

The only problem was that most of the games I shot were at night, so I had to shoot something fairly close. I’d love to have been able to sit back with a long lens and wait for something great to happen, but (a) I didn’t have a long lens and (b) most of those fields were DARK, way too dark to shoot available light with the film available.

That’s why there are lots of swinging shots

Sometimes I’d get lucky

I loved it when something happened in front of me, but I usually had to go for the safe shot so I could get to another game or home to process my film.

Little League was scary

Before I became a regular newspaper photographer covering games for $5 a shot, I would go to little league games and shoot kids batting. I’d process the film and go back to the next game and try to sell prints to the parents. I ran across some of those left-over prints the other day and I think they were priced at less than a buck for a 3-1/2 x 5-inch print. I made enough to cover my expenses and a little more.

Because of my equipment limitations, I would crouch down about 12 feet from the home plate to catch the kids swinging. I wasn’t much afraid of a foul ball, because they couldn’t hit THAT hard. The biggest problem was that the kids had a hard time hanging onto the bats. I needed protective gear more than the players.

I’ll run some of those shots later.

Gallery of baseball photos

Here’s a collection of baseball and softball photos from various leagues, teams and games. I can guess where some of them were played, but everything else about them is lost in the fog. Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the sides of the photo to move through the gallery.

June 3, 2010July 25, 2023

Train Trip to Chaffee

Mural on Mississippi River Floodwall

One of the rites of passage for kindergarten classes at Trinity Lutheran School was the ride from Cape Girardeau to Chaffee on the passenger train.

Trinity Lutheran School Kindergarten Class

Here is a snippet of a family 8mm movie of what I think is my brother David’s class boarding the train and pulling away from the station. I think he’s the boy in the red shirt in the first few frames.

Notice the old-fashioned, steel-wheeled baggage carts near the depot. The movie was shot in the early 1960s.

June 2, 2010November 9, 2015

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis

When my brother, Mark, was in high school or slightly older, he got a job at KFVS-TV. I’m still looking for some photos of him firing up the generator in the basement. When I find them, I’ll go into more detail about his career at the Cape TV station. In addition to his mechanical and technical assignments, he must have also been given the job of cleaning out old stuff that had been hanging around.

Cleaning out the closets

I can identify with that kind of tasking. I was given the assignment to dig into my closet to weed out all of the clothes that had managed to shrink while they were hanging in the dark. I don’t understand how a shirt or pair of pants that fit perfectly five years ago manged to get smaller on the hangar. The threads must contract or something.

Don McNeely

Anyway, I found an envelope on the bottom of a shelf that was addressed to Don McNeely from TV Guide.

Don McNeely was a local TV institution. He started at the station in 1943 when he was 16. The station heavily promoted his 40th anniversary by handing out rain gauges and 5,000 umbrellas imprinted with the slogan, “Don Said It Would.”

He retired in 1993 after exactly 50 years of service at the KFVS.

When he started, the station didn’t even own a camera. When they DID start shooting film, it had to be sent to Memphis for processing. By the time it got on air, it was two or three days old.

There’s a good retrospective on him in The Missourian microfilm. He shows up on the roof of the station in these photos I shot of a Southeast Missouri State College Homecoming Parade in 1966.

Dobie Gillis & Maynerd G. Krebs

Inside the envelope was a 16×20 Kodak dye transfer promo TV Guide cover showing the stars of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Wayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis) and Bob Denver (Maynard G. Grebs). A stamp on the back was dated Sept. 2, 1961.

TV Guide Covers

I didn’t realize this was a Big Deal (and I’m sure Mark didn’t either or he wouldn’t have given it to me).

Here’s a description of the history behind the promo photos: “Every week TV GUIDE would do a new issue with a NEW cover. They would prepare these covers in advance, and do these large color EASTMAN DYE TRANSFERS and ship them out to their Regional Offices to hang on the wall. There were LESS than 20 regional offices. They would also give the local affiliate stations a copy, if the cover promoted one of their shows. (so maybe another 20 were issued for them). Sometimes, the execs would give out a promo copy, sometimes the star and production big wigs of the show would get a copy (so maybe another 20 were handed out).

The point I am trying to make is – these are very LIMITED production, and limited release. NOT available to the general public. RARELY seen on the market, if ever. All official estimates, is that these early ones were produced in quantities of LESS than 100 each! Color dye transfers are very high quality, true to life, bright, brilliant colors. An expensive process. These are QUITE large. Overall, matted dimensions are approx. 16″ by 20″. The actual picture itself is a bit bigger than the 11″ by 13″ that displays. If you collect this person, you would be hard pressed to find a more attractive or SCARCER item! Would be a fantastic piece to display with an original AUTOGRAPH! In the lower left, is printed TV GUIDE COVER PORTRAIT. This is not an add on, but is actually as issued. GREAT display piece.”

Photos around the same date go for $100 to $250. I was going to throw the print in the car to take back to Mark when I go home, but I may have to think twice about that. Maybe he DOES deserve it. He appreciates fine art. After all, he bought my Ohio University Art 101 sketchbook for $20.

May 31, 2010May 31, 2010

Boys Playing Army

The Missourian ran this wild art shot of a couple of boys dressed up in helmets and galoshes playing army soldier. I haven’t run across the newspaper clip to be able to tell you their names.

On this Memorial Day, I hope this was as close to the real thing as they ever got.

Here is a link to a more serious look at Memorial Day.

Send politicians, not young men

What had been more or less of an abstraction to me became real when I watched a man and his wife receive a box of medals in place of their son. I honor his service, but I wonder what his death accomplished. The world would be a safer places if we sent polticians, not young men, to fight our wars.