The Bethesda Big Train is a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bethesda, Maryland . The team is a member of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (CRSCBL), and derives its name from the nickname of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson , who was a Bethesda resident for ten years. 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 23 in the major leagues.
16-658: The Bethesda Community Base Ball 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
32-624: 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
48-649: A league-best nine homers and 36 RBIs. 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. 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
64-533: The United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate from early June to early August. In contrast to college baseball , which allow aluminum or other composite baseball bats , players in these leagues use only wooden bats, hence the common nickname of these leagues as "wood-bat leagues". Collegiate summer leagues allow college baseball players
80-555: The Big Train won both the regular season and league championships. 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. In early 2012, the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club announced that Big Train operations would come under
96-644: The CGL championship. In 2005, the Big Train helped establish the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (CRSCBL). 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. In 2006, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher called Big Train games at Shirley Povich Field "the ultimate small-town fantasy." In 2009,
112-810: 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 Big Train took two of three from Cropdusters Baseball in
128-584: The ability to compete using professional rules and equipment, giving them experience and allowing professional scouts the opportunity to observe players under such conditions. To find a collegiate summer team, players work with their college coaches and prospective teams' general managers. They report to summer leagues after completing their spring collegiate season with their NCAA , NAIA , NJCAA , CCCAA , and NWAC teams. Some players arrive late due to their college team's postseason play, which sometimes runs into early June. In some cases, players are drafted during
144-523: The baseball field at George Mason University . That continued until 1987 when teams began playing on their own home fields. The league instituted a rule requiring the use of only wooden bats in competition in 1993. More than 50 CGL alumni went on to play Major League Baseball and over 250 went on to play Minor League Baseball . See: [1] Sites of teams that participated in the league in 2009: Collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in
160-486: The collegiate summer season. These draftees can remain with their collegiate summer team until they sign a professional contract. During the season, players are housed by volunteer host families and bussed to and from road games. The leagues vary greatly in their attendances, quality of play, and ability to attract scouts. The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) and the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) are considered
176-616: 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 In 2016, after
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#1732855502616192-616: The earliest years, games were played around Washington, D.C., including on The Ellipse behind the White House . Clark Griffith who then owned the Washington Senators (now Minnesota Twins) gave the league financial support. When he died in 1955, the league was renamed the Clark Griffith Memorial Baseball League . The name was changed to its final form in 1995. In 1966 the league began playing all its game on
208-490: The number two seed Alexandria Aces . In the playoffs, the Big Train swept the D.C. 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
224-578: The postseason. In addition to on-field efforts, Big Train runs a summer camp for children ages 5–12. Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League The Clark C. Griffith Collegiate Baseball League ( CGL ) was a collegiate summer baseball league , with teams located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. All league players had to be enrolled at a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school, have at least one year of NCAA eligibility remaining and be amateurs by NCAA rules. The CGL
240-544: The semi-final series, before sweeping the top-seeded Aces in the League Championship Series to take their tenth Ripken League Championship title. 2024 was another successful year for the Big Train, as the team won nine of eleven games to close the season. The Big Train followed this with an undefeated postseason, ultimately sweeping the Southern Maryland Senators to win their eleventh Ripken League Championship Series. The Big Train outscored their opponents 58-14 in
256-634: Was a charter member of the All-American Amateur Baseball Association and was designated a Premier League by the National Baseball Congress . The league had five teams in 2009 but suspended play for the 2010 season and does not appear to have been operational since. The Clark Griffith Collegiate Baseball League was founded in 1945 and was then known as the National Capital City Junior League . In
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