Headlines

Baseball is at its best on twilight evenings in a bustling ballpark. Big Train baseball has been exactly that and more for general manager Chris Rogers, who started going to games in middle school.

“[Games at Povich Field] were a nice way to have a little independence,” Rogers said. “…It was just a big part of growing up here in the summer.”

Years later, he studied journalism at the University of Maryland, where he found his niche covering sports. In the summer after his freshman year, he returned to Povich Field as a Big Train writing intern for the 2015 season.

A lifelong baseball fan, he followed his passion for the sport through college as well, serving as the managing editor for the Maryland Baseball Network, a student-run writing and broadcast organization. During his time with MBN, he managed the organization’s website and supervized students who came through, like current Johns Hopkins radio broadcaster Connor Newcomb.

“He was very helpful in getting us acclimated with the team and just knowing what we needed to do,” Newcomb said. “He was a good person to know early in my college career.”

In 2016, Rogers became the Big Train head intern and volunteer coordinator. At this time, he realized that he enjoyed the management side of the organization even more than sports writing. After the 2017 Big Train season, he was named assistant general manager, a role in which he served for two seasons.

“Chris, he was a guy that was a doer,” Big Train manager Sal Colangelo said. “…If you asked him to do something, you never had to worry about anything. It was done.”

Rogers’ commitment to Big Train continued after his graduation in 2018. His contributions and forward thinking made impactful impressions on future board members, like Vice President Eric Cole.

“He’s got an extremely strong work ethic and an outstanding attitude,” Cole said. “It’s fun to work with people like that.”

Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in mid-March of this year, though, he didn’t know what his future with the organization would be.

When Bruce Adams and the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club planned to retake club operations, Rogers was asked to be part of the new team. In the time since, he has helped expand the organization’s online presence, and on July 29, he was named the club’s permanent General Manager.

“I was excited that all the work I had put into the organization over the past five years had paid off and I was excited to work with Bruce and the board,” Rogers said. “Now, I am more excited about Big Train than I’ve ever been, and I can’t wait for the 2021 season and beyond.