The team is a member of the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (CRSCBL), and derives its name from the nickname of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson,[1] who was a Bethesda resident for ten years.

[3] The Bethesda Community Base Ball Club, Inc. was founded in 1998 "to raise funds to improve the quality of youth baseball and softball fields in Montgomery County and the District of Columbia."

[6] In 2006, Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher called Big Train games at Shirley Povich Field "the ultimate small-town fantasy.

[8] In early 2012, the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club announced that Big Train operations would come under the control of one of its longtime partners, BCC Baseball.

In 2020, BCC Baseball decided to focus its business efforts on other aspects and the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club was reconstituted with a community-based Board of Directors to re-establish the management of Big Train operations.

That season, Big Train outfielder James Outman was named the 2017 National Summer Collegiate Player of the Year by Perfect Game after hitting .341 with 18 stolen bases and a league-best nine homers and 36 RBIs.

The Big Train followed this with an undefeated postseason, ultimately sweeping the Southern Maryland Senators to win their eleventh Ripken League Championship Series.