Bethesda Big Train

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Bethesda Big Train
Bigtrain.jpg
Information
League Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League (2005–present)
Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League (1999–2004)
Location Bethesda, Maryland
Ballpark Shirley Povich Field
Founded1999
League championships2004 (CGL),2005 (co-champions), 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2018 (co-champions), 2019, 2021, 2023 (CRCBL)
Regular Season Titles championships2004 (CGL); 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 (co-champions) (CRCBL)
ColorsGreen, white, black    
MascotHomer, Bunt
2023 record27–14
OwnershipBethesda Community Base Ball Club
ManagerSal Colangelo
General ManagerHarrison Meyers

The Bethesda Big Train is a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bethesda, Maryland. The team is a member of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League (CRCBL), and derives its name from the nickname of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson, [1] who was a Bethesda resident for ten years. [2] The Big Train plays its home games at Shirley Povich Field. As of August 2023, more than 210 Big Train alumni have played professional baseball, including 22 in the major leagues. [3]

Contents

History

The Bethesda Community Baseball Club, Inc. was founded in 1998 "to raise funds to improve the quality of youth baseball and softball fields in Montgomery County and the District of Columbia." Proceeds from the operations of the Bethesda Big Train are used to further this mission.

The Big Train began playing in 1999 as part of the Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League (CGL). In 2004, they won the CGL championship. [4]

2000s

In 2005, the Big Train joined the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League (CRCBL). [5] That first year, the team won the regular season championship and shared the league championship with the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts. In 2006 the Big Train were the regular season champions. [6]

In 2006, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher called Big Train games at Shirley Povich Field "the ultimate small-town fantasy." [7]

In 2009, the Big Train won both the regular season and league championships.

2010s

In 2010, the Big Train captured their 2nd straight league championship after placing 3rd in the regular season, and in 2011 rolled to their 3rd consecutive league championship with a 36–9 overall record and were ranked the #1 summer collegiate baseball league team in the nation by Perfect Game USA. Perfect Game USA ranked the Bethesda Big Train the best team in summer baseball. [8]

In early 2012, the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club announced that Big Train operations would come under the control of one of its longtime partners, BCC Baseball. In 2020, BCC Baseball decided to focus its business efforts on other aspects and the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club was reconstituted with a community-based Board of Directors to re-establish the management of Big Train operations. The goal remained to support community-based activities in Montgomery County, Maryland and, to the extent that funds could be generated in excess of operating costs, to provide financial support for fixing up ballfields in Montgomery County [9]

In 2016, after a four-year title drought, Big Train captured the Cal Ripken League championship with a victory over the Baltimore Redbirds. The next year, Big Train again defeated the Redbirds in the finals to win back-to-back league championships. That season, Big Train outfielder James Outman was named the 2017 National Summer Collegiate Player of the Year by Perfect Game after hitting .341 with 18 stolen bases and a league-best nine homers and 36 RBIs. [10]

The Big Train and Redbirds were named co-champions in 2018 after bad weather canceled the championship game.

Big Train won their fourth straight league title in 2019 after defeating the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts in a three-game League Championship Series. [11]

2020s

Bethesda's 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the Big Train won their fourth straight regular season title, seven games ahead of the number two seed Alexandria Aces. In the playoffs, the Big Train swept the DC Grays in two games of the Semifinal Series, and then won their fifth straight league title by sweeping the Alexandria Aces in two games during the League Championship Series.

In 2022, the Big Train tied the Alexandria Aces for first place in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Big Train swept the Gaithersburg Giants in two games of the Semifinal Series, however the Aces then swept the Big Train in the League Championship Series for the Aces' first ever Ripken League Championship title. This was the first time the Big Train lost the League Championship Series since 2015.

In 2023, the Cal Ripken League conducted competition in two divisions. The Big Train won the North Division and the Alexandria Aces won the South Division. The Aces had the better record of the two, so they went into the playoffs as the #1 seed. The Big Train took two of three from Cropdusters Baseball in the Semi-Final Series. The Big Train then swept the Aces in the League Championship Series to take the Ripken League Championship title for the tenth time.

In addition to on-field efforts, Big Train runs a summer camp for children ages 5–12.

Team records

Individual (single-season)

[12]

Notable alumni

Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League

Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League

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References

  1. ↑ "Walter Johnson" at Bethesda Big Train official site. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  2. ↑ Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, Published by U of Nebraska Press, 1998, page 288. On Google Books.
  3. ↑ "Big Train official web site" . Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  4. ↑ "Clark Griffith League History" . Retrieved 2008-03-29.[ dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Big Train CRSCBL Announcement". Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  6. ↑ "CRSCBL Archives". Archived from the original on 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  7. ↑ "For Baseball That Feels Right, Try Bethesda at Night". Bethesda Big Train. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  8. ↑ Simpson, Allan (August 22, 2011). "Bethesda No. 1 ranked summer team". Perfect Game USA. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Through the Years". Bethesda Big Train. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "OUTMAN NAMED SUMMER COLLEGIATE PLAYER OF THE YEAR BY PERFECT GAME". Sacramento State Athletics. 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  11. ↑ "Big Train wins fourth-consecutive CRCBL Championship". The Montgomery County Sentinel. 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  12. ↑ "The Official Site of Bethesda Big Train Summer Collegiate Baseball: Records". www.bigtrain.org. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  13. ↑ "The Official Site of Bethesda Big Train Summer Collegiate Baseball: Records". www.bigtrain.org. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  14. ↑ "The Official Site of Bethesda Big Train Summer Collegiate Baseball: Major Leaguers". www.bigtrain.org. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  15. ↑ "The Official Site of Bethesda Big Train Summer Collegiate Baseball: Major Leaguers". www.bigtrain.org. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  16. ↑ "MLB Player Profile" . Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  17. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  18. ↑ "Cincinnati Reds Player Profile" . Retrieved 2008-04-16.
  19. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  20. ↑ "MLB Player Profile" . Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  21. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  22. ↑ "MLB Player Profile" . Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  23. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  24. ↑ "MLB Player Profile" . Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  25. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
  26. ↑ "MLB Player Profile" . Retrieved 2009-03-21.
  27. ↑ "Baseball-Reference web site" . Retrieved 2017-01-03.
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