NEWS

By John Riker

 

    For Bethesda Big Train manager Sal Colangelo, the 2020 baseball season, his 22nd with the Big Train organization, figured to be a monumental one. The Big Train hoped to win its fifth straight league title, as well as complete a stewardship transition from BCC Baseball to the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club and Bruce Adams. Instead, the season was over before it began due to the novel coronavirus, disrupting Colangelo’s summer routine and title hopes.

    “It’s something that’s been a part of your life for so long,” Colangelo said. “To actually not coach this summer, it’s unacceptable. So it was hard for me at first, but I kind of got over it. We realize there’s bigger things in life outside of athletics.”

On May 4, the Cal Ripken League publicly announced the cancellation of its 2020 summer season. To the league’s six teams, the news came as little surprise. The coronavirus pandemic, which threatened to complicate host family arrangements, sponsorships and, most crucially, player and fan health, had already caused NCAA to cancel its spring baseball season. That made the prospects for a league that pulls players from across the country seem slim. In its wake, the six teams are preparing for a summer like no other and hoping to make the most of an unprecedented situation. 

Without the action on the field, the Big Train and the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts  have aimed to drive fan engagement through summer-long programming. Big Train is releasing three videos on its new bigtrain.tv platform each week, including a Safe at Home Tuesdays interview show and a Top Ten Thursdays series that looks back on the organization’s greatest moments. The T-Bolts are hosting Trivia Nights through Twitch and publishing podcasts with former professional players and other members of the baseball community. 

The DC Grays shifted their focus from the collegiate ranks to the next generation. The Grays dedicated their summer to running their RBI Baseball program, which partners with MLB and provides underprivileged children living in the inner city with the opportunity to play in a youth baseball or softball league free of cost. Grays President Mike Barbera says the RBI league, which began in 2016 and has grown every summer since, expects to host 200-250 young players this July in accordance with Phase 2 of DC’s coronavirus reopening plan. 

    “We made the decision that for our organization, our best efforts for 2020 would be to try to maximize the ability to have the season for our DC Grays’ RBI youth baseball and softball program,” Barbera said.

    Though the Grays plan to run their RBI program this summer, other Cal Ripken League teams have put much of their off-the-field programming, including summer camps to food drives, on hold and are shifting their focus ahead to the 2021 season. On the personnel side, teams are preparing for the late summer recruitment period to build their 2021 squads, while organizations like the FCA Braves are building their lineup of nonprofits and local companies for next season. 

    “Our intention is to start laying the groundwork for the summer season next year a little earlier than I have in the past,” Braves head coach Chris Warren said. “It’s been a real challenge with businesses and getting support. Economics in our area have been dramatically impacted, so that is something we will focus on. Recruiting, then host family outreach and business development in terms of sponsorships will probably be our primary focuses as we transition from summer into the fall.”

    Though the Cal Ripken League stadiums will be vacant this summer, the enthusiasm for baseball has not dwindled. The Gaithersburg Giants celebrated the first-round selection of 2017 Giant Jordan Westburg to the local Baltimore Orioles, one of six CRCBL alumni drafted in the opening rounds of the MLB Draft. Some players and coaches, including Colangelo, plan to participate in the Northern Virginia Travel Baseball League, which will be a more local league aimed at filling the summer baseball void. 

And for the coaches and front office members of the CRCBL teams, this summer is about improving through a unique time and preparing to play their best baseball yet in 2021.

    “It’s definitely missed on a whole bunch of angles,” Giants coach Jeff Rabberman said. “I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that we can’t wait for 2021 to start.”