Over 120 Big Train Friends Attended 2024 Base Ball & Holiday Auction; First Auction Nets $8,000!

Many thanks to our extended Big Train Family for making our annual Big Train Base Ball & Holiday Auction another great success. More than 120 Big Train fans and friends gathered for our annual off season get together at the KID Museum in downtown Bethesda on Sunday night November 17. With fabulous food from The Bean Bag Deli, a wonderful facility at the KID Museum, and generous sponsors and donors and auction bidders, we have been able to raise more than $30,000 toward our Fall goal of raising $60,000 (so we can net $50,000 after our event and fundraising expenses) for our community service initiatives in 2025. Our first auction closed Tuesday night and netted more than $8,000 toward our goal! While there is more fundraising work to be done this Fall, the Base Ball & Holiday Auction provided a strong start.

We had plenty of Big Train royalty in the house as Head Coach Sal Colangelo and his coaching staff were joined by alumni Matt Bowman (BT 2010-2011) and Jason Schiavone (BT 2022-2023). Bethesda Community Base Ball Club co-founder John Ourisman and long-time Big Train Booster Club chair Randy Schools were there to present awards that had been established in their names. 

Head Coach Colangelo and Big Train co-founder and president Bruce Adams presented Matt Bowman with a replica of his Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League Hall of Fame plaque. In 2011, when Perfect Game USA named the Bethesda Big Train as the best summer college team in the nation, Bowman was named Most Outstanding Pitcher of the Big Train and the Ripken League. As a rare two-way player at the elite college level, Matt led the league with a 0.82 ERA while also playing three different infield positions. Bruce praised Matt, a product of BCC Baseball and St. Albans School, as a “true role model for local youth." 

Congratulations to Robert Hsu, Owen Meyer, Owen Lieber, and Liam Wagner for joining the John Ourisman Volunteer Honor Roll recognizing their five years of service as Big Train volunteers. Volunteers are the heart and soul of Big Train baseball, and we appreciate their service. With these four new honorees, the Ourisman Honor Roll now has 96 members.

The Randy Schools Big Train Outstanding Service Award is the highest award given by the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club for outstanding service in support of Big Train baseball. This year, Bruce joined Randy Schools in presenting four awards, bringing the total number of recipients of this prestigious award to 101 individuals and businesses:

• Patrick Chapman, our Assistant General Manager who worked his way up the Big Train’s talent pipeline starting as a middle school volunteer and becoming, as described by Bruce, “our indispensable man.”
• Bob O’Conor, an essential part of Sal Colangelo’s coaching brain trust for six seasons.
• Linda Hallman, Mike and Adrian Freeman, and FitBite Orthodontics. “This family does it all,” according to Bruce. They are a host family, Linda serves on the Big Train board, Mike is a Povich Field clean up workhorse, Adrian keeps Coach G and Sal in line, and Linda’s FitBite Orthodontics is a long-time and generous season sponsor.
• Andrew Doepping and Murtuza Hussain represented season sponsor Lafayette Federal Credit Union. Bruce praised Lafayette for its support as a season sponsor, a top sponsor of our Clarence “Pint” Isreal Juneteenth Classic, and for providing our annual season schedule magnets. Big Train Treasurer Bill Landau told the crowd he has invested the money in our David Povich Improvement Fund with Lafayette because of its excellent service.

ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian and Matt Bowman participated in a spirited Q&A on baseball past, present, and future with Big Train’s Bruce Adams and Owen Lieber. We will report on this panel discussion in a future Big Train newsletter.

Thanks to all the donors and sponsors and to our Board Members and other volunteers for helping to make this event so successful. Special thanks to Big Train’s Richard Hsu and Owen Meyer for their extraordinary work in putting this event together and to Jurrel Cottman of KID Museum and Mitchell Wool of The Bean Bag Deli for their professionalism that made this event run so smoothly.

Please help us reach our Fall 2024 fundraising goals! Please spread the word to friends and family about our SECOND Online Auction and click the link below to donate!

Annual Base Ball and Holiday Auction