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Join the “We Are Big Train” Honor Roll

March 23, 2021

Message from Big Train Founder & President Bruce Adams

To Our Big Train Community: 

As I pledged to you when we reestablished the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club (BCBBC) and retook stewardship of Bethesda Big Train baseball in June of 2020, we have been working hard to be able to bring the fun back to Shirley Povich Field this summer after a very difficult year.

As the health data continue to look better and more and more of us get our vaccinations, state and local officials are updating Covid regulations. I believe a return to beloved community activities like Big Train baseball at Povich Field will be a much valued step forward toward normalcy. Our Covid Safety Work Group led by BCBBC Vice President Eric Cole is consulting with teams across the country to learn best practices that we will incorporate into a socially distanced plan to submit to county officials to allow for fans to return to Povich Field. We have promised to be fully transparent with our fans, host families, players, coaches, and the broader community throughout this process. As part of this, you may sign up to attend our fan focus group on Fan Safety in the Covid Era to be held by Zoom on Tuesday March 30 from 7 to 8 p.m.

With the uncertainty about the number of fans to be allowed at Big Train games this summer and the challenges our community small businesses face, we know that revenue and game night sponsorships will be down this year. Recognizing this, our Board of Directors has acted prudently to reduce our 2021 budget by one-third. To be able to keep the Big Train on track for a 22nd successful season, we need the continued support from our loyal Big Train fans like you.

To be able to keep the Big Train on track for a 22^nd successful season, we need continued support from our loyal fans. Here’s how you can help:

• We need 100 individuals and families to join our “We Are Big Train” Honor Roll as MVP members by pledging $22 each month for the next year in honor of our 22^nd season.
• We need 50 individuals and families to join our “We Are Big Train” Honor Roll as All Star members by pledging $10 each month for the next year in honor of the tenth anniversary of our 2011 National Championship.

If we are able to meet these targets from our most faithful fans, we will raise $32,400 to help cover expected shortfalls from Covid limited attendance and reduced corporate sponsorship for our essential expenses until next Spring when we expect to be able to again roll out a robust campaign to recruit season and game night sponsors. So, if you love Big Train the way I think you do, please step up and add your name to mine on the “We Are Big Train” Honor Roll to help keep the Big Train rolling.

Our ten week “We Are Big Train” campaign between now and when the season starts in June will highlight five of the reasons our fans support Big Train baseball so passionately:

• “We Are Big Train” - We Honor Our Heroes. At Povich Field, we tell the story of baseball legends Walter Johnson and Shirley Povich. In 2020, we honored five community heroes. In 2021, we will honor the nurses, public safety workers, grocery store clerks, and others who have helped us through this crisis. Also, in 2021, we will unveil a sculpture of Shirley Povich interviewing Walter Johnson created by Toby Mendez, the artist who turned the heroes of Birdland into bronze at Camden Yards.

• “We Are Big Train” - We Win Championships. In twenty-one seasons, the Big Train has never posted a losing record. After winning the Griffith League in 2004, the Big Train has won the Cal Ripken League regular season championship ten of 16 seasons and won the league championship trophy eight times. In 2011, Big Train was named the nation’s number one summer college team by Perfect Game USA. Sixteen of our alumni have made it to the major leagues. 

• “We Are Big Train” - We Serve Our Community. Big Train has always been about more than just the baseball. From 1999 to 2011, we invested $600,000 in improving youth baseball and softball fields from Germantown to Anacostia. Each year we donate tickets to forty community nonprofits and give them an opportunity to showcase their organizations to our fans. Since 2010, the Big Train and other Montgomery based Ripken League teams have collected 60,846 pounds of food for the Manna Food Center.

• “We Are Big Train” - We Provide Family Fun. We believe every kid deserves a great summer. For two decades we have provided family fun at affordable prices right near home. Marc Fisher of The Washington Post called Big Train baseball at Shirley Povich Field “the ultimate small-town fantasy… In a video game world, this is as retro a summer’s eve as most kids will know, and they can’t get enough of it.”

• “We Are Big Train” - We Inspire and Teach Our Youth. Each summer we bring more than two dozen outstanding scholar athletes from top colleges and universities across the country here to play for the Bethesda Big Train. These players serve as role models for our youth and teach them the fundamentals of baseball at the Big Train Summer Baseball Camp.

Each individual and family pledging to support our “We Are Big Train” campaign at the MVP level of $22 per month and at the All Star level of $10 per month will be listed on our webpage and in social media on our “We Are Big Train” Honor Roll.

We are working hard to be sure we can maintain the “Small town charm and Big League talent” you have come to love each summer at Povich Field. Please do your part now by pledging your support of our “We Are Big Train” campaign. We value our fans and look forward to acknowledging your support by adding your name to our Honor Roll.

We will surely make our goal if each of you who makes this pledge will in addition forward this request to at least one other Big Train fan and encourage them to join you on our Honor Roll.

Thank you for your generous and continued support.

Roll train!

With appreciation,

Bruce Adams
Founder & President

P.S. I want to hear from you. Please email me at bruce@greaterwash.org with any suggestions you have for improving your Big Train baseball experience at Shirley Povich Field.

View the "We Are Big Train" Honor Roll here!