More Than a Game: Big Train’s Juneteenth Classic Keeps Montgomery County History Alive

By Ellie Rand

For one night each June, baseball becomes something bigger than wins and losses at Shirley Povich Field.

Bethesda Big Train’s fifth annual Clarence "Pint" Isreal Juneteenth Classic on Friday night celebrated an often-forgotten chapter of Montgomery County history: the Black sandlot baseball teams that served as the heart of African American communities throughout the Jim Crow era.

The annual game against the Gaithersburg Giants, played in honor of Negro Leagues star Clarence "Pint" Isreal, has grown from a single commemorative event into one of the most meaningful traditions hosted by the Big Train. 

Players took the field wearing Scotland Eagles uniforms, a tribute to one of Montgomery County's historic Black sandlot teams, while hundreds of fans received commemorative Heartbreakers T-shirts honoring a dominant Black softball team from the 1970s.

For Big Train President and Founder Bruce Adams, the game represents years of research, storytelling, and community-building.

"I grew up here and was a baseball fan when I was a kid. I had no idea there were just two separate worlds — the white world and the Black world," Adams said. "I was pissed that some of the great baseball players of my youth were playing 10 miles from my house and I didn't even know about it."

The Hidden Baseball History of Montgomery County

Long before organized youth sports became commonplace, baseball was one of the pillars of life in Montgomery County's African American communities.

During the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, communities including Emory Grove, Scotland, Lyttonsville, Sandy Spring, Stewartown, and Clarksburg fielded competitive sandlot teams. Each weekend, families packed into ballparks that doubled as community gathering places.

"The entire African American community would turn out on Saturdays and on Sundays after church," Adams recalled. "It was quite a scene. The preacher would be at the game, and the bootlegger would be there dispensing beverages."

At the center of Black sandlot baseball was Johnson's Park in Emory Grove, where crowds sometimes exceeded 1,000 spectators. Negro League barnstorming teams regularly stopped there between games in Washington and Baltimore, facing local clubs in exhibitions that brought elite baseball to Montgomery County.

Adams came to believe baseball stood alongside churches and schools as one of the three pillars of civic life in Montgomery County's Black communities.

"On Sunday morning, you went to church," Adams said. "On Sunday afternoon, you went to a ballgame. That was their life."

Former Major League outfielder and Montgomery County native Milt Thompson, who attended Friday's game, said events like the Juneteenth Classic help preserve an important piece of local baseball history.

"It's great to see Big Train wearing the Eagles jerseys and honoring the players who came before us," Thompson said. "Many people don't know this history, but these teams and communities helped keep baseball alive for generations. It's important that young players and fans understand where the game came from.”

Thompson, a graduate of Magruder High School in Rockville, played 13 seasons in the major leagues and later served as a coach on the Philadelphia Phillies' 2008 World Series championship staff.

Honoring Clarence “Pint” Isreal

The Juneteenth Classic is named after Montgomery County's greatest Negro Leagues player.

A native of Emory Grove, Clarence “Pint” Isreal became a standout third baseman and was a member of the Newark Eagles team that captured the 1946 Negro League World Series championship. Despite his accomplishments, his story remained largely unknown for decades.

Isreal was inducted into the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

That same year, Big Train launched the first Clarence "Pint" Isreal Juneteenth Classic as a way to preserve the stories of Isreal and the Black baseball communities that helped shape Montgomery County.

Since then, the event has expanded annually.

The inaugural game in 2022 featured members of the Isreal family, Thompson, former Scotland Eagles player Eddie Dove, and community leaders from across the county.

In 2023, Big Train players first wore Scotland Eagles jerseys, beginning a tradition that continues today. The event partnered with the Scotland Juneteenth Heritage Festival, bringing fireworks, youth baseball clinics, historical exhibits, and celebrations to the ballpark. Subsequent years featured Pint Isreal baseball cards, bobbleheads, Negro Leagues memorabilia displays, and recognition of local community leaders.

One of those connections to Montgomery County's baseball past was at the ballpark on Friday night.

Dove, a former third baseman for the Scotland Eagles from 1951 to 1957, was honored as one of Big Train's Community Heroes and threw out a ceremonial first pitch before the game. At 91 years old, Dove remains one of the few living players who wore a Scotland Eagles uniform during the height of the Black sandlot era.

"It's a pleasure to come here and do this every year," Dove said. "I've gotten so much out of it. People still remember those teams and what baseball meant to our community."

Keeping History Alive

Friday also celebrated another often-overlooked part of local history: women's softball.

The featured T-shirt honored the Heartbreakers, a powerhouse team composed of players from Rockville and Emory Grove. The club dominated the Rockville City League, winning Maryland state championships during the 1970s, continuing a tradition established by earlier women's teams such as the Metropolitan Grove Heartbreakers, Scotland Marylanders, and Mount Zion Little Dippers.

The annual game has evolved into a living history lesson, with exhibits from the Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball helping connect today's players and fans with the generations who came before them.

For Adams, preserving those stories remains the ultimate goal. One comment from an Emory Grove minister continues to resonate with him.

"Our history dies with our people," the minister told him years ago. 

Adams has spent much of the past two decades ensuring that doesn't happen. 

Many Black communities that once supported thriving baseball programs have been transformed by development. Ballparks have disappeared. Neighborhoods have changed. Some communities exist only in memory, Adams explained.

But on Juneteenth, their stories return to life.