Bethesda Big Train Baseball

On Sunday August 30, Big Train Board members Bruce Adams and Bill Landow joined DiMisa Fellow Ellie Welch at a celebration of Israel Baseball at Beth Sholom Congregation in Potomac. Thanks to our friends from Israel Baseball Jason Pressberg and Jesse Mendelson for hosting us. Hosting Team Israel at our 2021 Friendship Game as the team prepared for the Olympics was one of the most inspiring nights in the 27 seasons of Big Train baseball.

Team Israel coach Nate Mulberg (now head baseball coach at Johns Hopkins) and player Tal Erel from the 2021 team spoke on Sunday as attendees had an opportunity to watch video clips from Team Israel’s excellent adventure (including our 2021 Friendship Game at Povich Field!) to Japan for the Olympics.

Big Train DiMisa Fellow Ellie Welch (Walter Johnson High School) sold signed copies of Peter Kurz’s excellent Where Traditions Meet: The Personal Inside Story of the Israel Baseball Quest for Olympic Gold. Along with our long-time friend Adam Gladstone of Israel Baseball, Peter was the person Big Train worked with to bring Team Israel to Povich Field. And Big Train gets a nice shout out in the book. We have six signed copies of the book available in the Big Train Team Store on our website.

2027 BIG TRAIN BOOKMARK CONTEST!

Bethesda Big Train has supported the Summer Reading Challenge of the Montgomery County Public Libraries since our beginning a quarter century ago. In 2000 and 2001, we held contests for students to design our bookmarks for our Summer Reading promotion. Students from Earl B. Wood Middle School and Tilden Middle School won the contest and had their art printed as the Big Train Summer Reading bookmark.

In recent years, we have reprinted the fabulous art from 2000 and 2001. For the 2027 bookmark, we are reviving the Bookmark Contest to give our creative young fans a chance to have their art on the 2027 bookmark. All students ages 15 and under are eligible to participate.

Please visit our website for the contest form and mail it to us by December 1, 2026.

The top ten entries will be honored at Povich Field at Big Train’s Annual School’s Out Night. Each of the ten students will be given four free tickets to the game.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited!

Congratulations to our 2026 All-League Second Team player!

Congratulations to our 2026 All-League First Team players!

We’re officially on the hunt for Summer 2027 Interns!

Interested apply through the link in our bio!

Voting is still open for Bethesda Magazine’s Best of Bethesda 2027, and we would be honored if you would nominate Bethesda Big Train! Voting closes September 7th at 5pm.

https://bestof.bethesdamagazine.com

Voting is now open for Washington Jewish Week’s 2026 Best of Jewish Washington. We would be grateful if you would vote and ask your friends to vote for Bethesda Big Train as “Best Minor League Sport Experience” under the LIVING category.

Voting ends September 24, and we would really appreciate winning your vote.

P.S. Yes, we know we aren’t a “minor league’ team, but that is our category for this poll.

BIG Train alumni doing BIG things! 👏

Baseball America named 2023 Big Train alum Dixon Williams its Hottest Prospect of the Week after an incredible stretch with the Braves’ High-A affiliate in Rome.

“Braves’ High-A Rome center fielder Dixon Williams monster weekend that saw him hit five home runs in two days with back-to-back four-hit games put him on top of the Hot Sheet this week. Williams is not the top prospect to stand out this week, but he was the hottest prospect of the week.”