Sitting in the shade of the first-base dugout in the stadium at Silver Spring’s Montgomery Blair High School, Neal Lavon gazed out at the sun-kissed baseball diamond.
“It’s all volunteer [work], I don’t get a dime–in fact, this probably costs me money,” the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts media director said with a smile. “It’s just so much fun to do this and the players are grateful and it’s great to get to know them.”
On June 1, the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League begins its 19th season. Founded in 2005, the amateur summer wooden bat league that draws players from all over the country offers fans an up-close and intimate baseball experience.
“The biggest thing is accessibility,” said Chris Rogers, director of operations for the nonprofit league. “Both ease of getting to the ballpark, but then when you’re there, you’re right up in the action.”
The league features eight ballclubs–including four in Montgomery County. In addition to the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts, the other teams are the Bethesda Big Train, Gaithersburg Giants and Olney Cropdusters. The league also features ballclubs that play in Largo and Waldorf in Maryland as well as Alexandria and Lorton, Virginia.

The county’s teams play in local stadiums, drawing fans for the action on the field as well as a host of family-friendly activities and promotions. Single-game tickets typically do not exceed $15. Each team plays in a small, cozy ballpark where players are often only a few steps away.
“You’re literally, practically in the dugout,” said Bruce Adams, founder and president of the Bethesda Big Train, based at Shirley Povich Field in Cabin John Park in Rockville.
“Especially for families, being able to go down before the game or after the game and actually meet the players and get autographs and take pictures–stuff that’s so hard when you’re at a Major League [Baseball] ballpark with 40,000 people–it’s so accessible when you’re in a small, community-centered facility,” Rogers said.
According to Adams, certain players grow to enjoy interacting with fans as well.
“I remember going to [a minor league game in] Aberdeen once early, like an hour before the game or something,” Adams recalled. “I noticed a guy signing autographs for kids before the game and realized it was one of our former players [pitcher Jim Cooney]. I went down and he just looked up and grinned and said, ‘I learned to do this at Big Train.’”
Rogers estimates the most well-attended Cal Ripken League games typically pull 500-750 fans–a far cry from nearby Major League games hosted by the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals.
“I don’t think we’re in competition with the Nats and the Orioles,” Lavon said. “We could never be. We’re a completely different, low-key, local experience.”
“You get such an up-close and personal understanding of the game, you get to see the interactions between players and coaches–if there’s a pop-up on the infield you can hear the shortstop calling off everyone else,” Rogers said.
The league’s teams play a 36-game regular season followed by a six-team playoff to determine the league champion.

Action on the diamond is far from the only form of entertainment offered at Cal Ripken League games, however. Fan engagement is a critical initiative throughout the league.
“The Montgomery County teams I think really do this the best in our league,” Rogers said. “All four of them do a good job of having different promotions that bring people out.”
In Olney, Rogers recalled Cropdusters players wearing uniforms designed to look like overalls and performing the traditional American folk song “Cotton-Eyed Joe” during the seventh-inning stretch at the team’s home field at First Responder Field by ServPro at OBGC Park in Olney.
“[It’s] kinda funny and goofy, but it works,” Rogers said.
At the Montgomery Blair stadium, the Thunderbolts host a variety of events, including birthday parties, family picnics, school nights, raffles and contests.
In Bethesda, Adams said Big Train schedules various theme nights and operates with a “fan friendly” mantra when creating its yearly entertainment slate. This season, promotional giveaways include bobbleheads, T-shirts, cake pops and a team mascot plushie to name a few. The ball club also introduced a kid fun zone last year.
“It’s all about the fans,” Adams said. “Everything we do is designed for that person who’s never been [to a game] before to walk in and first of all, say, ‘oh wow, this is cool,” and then to walk out of there saying, ‘what a great time I had, I’ll be back.”
This season, the Big Train also will play two Sunday games at 10 a.m. on June 9 and 30 to appeal to families with young children. The first “Breakfast with the Big Train” game was held last season due to a scheduling snafu. According to Adams, the team decided to implement two morning matchups into the 2024 schedule because the accidental 10 a.m. game last year pulled a massive crowd.
“[The morning games] are really aimed at the 10-and-under crowd,” Adams said.
Cal Ripken League teams also run youth summer camps during the season, where players coach and build connections with local kids.
“Basically, we use our camps as a way to attract kids who want to learn how to play baseball,” Lavon said, speaking about the Thunderbolts’ summer clinics that take place in June and July.
In addition to summer camps, Rogers said the Giants have established an especially strong connection with local youth baseball. In fact, that connection helps the team find host families to house players during the season.
“[The Giants] work with a lot of the youth programs in the City of Gaithersburg and they put on baseball camps and clinics,” Rogers said of the team whose home field is at Criswell Automotive Field at Kelley Park in Gaithersburg. “So they have this huge network through that and so a lot of the families of those youth players will then host Giants players for the summer.”
While youth and community-focused initiatives are defining characteristics of the league, the games are the main draw. Fans are treated to high-level collegiate baseball featuring some of the most promising up-and-coming talent from all over the country.
“You can see a lot of these guys before they make it big,” Rogers said. “You’ll see a guy go 4-for-5 and hit for the cycle and you can say to yourself, ‘wow, it looks like he’s going somewhere’ and a few years later he’s drafted and he’s playing pro ball.”
“What I brand is ‘small-town charm and big-league talent,’ ” Adams said.