Maryland Community Baseball, Inc.

The Silver Spring - Takoma Thunderbolts, a contender in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League filled with dynamic college players, needs your financial help.

Why: Baseball without hitting is just a nice summer day's catch.

And to be good at hitting you need to practice, pregame and on the field, to perfect your swing and perhaps even score the winning run.  To some, this display of hitting power is the best part of baseball, the players are relaxed, the fans anticipating the action and the smell of the T-Bolts grill is in the air.

In order to assure the safety of the players, fans, coaches and umps, the Thunderbolts desperately need a new batting practice net called a “cage” AKA a “TURTLE”.

Our old batting practice cage (known as a "TURTLE", because it looks like a turtle's shell!) had holes in it so big that you could drive a truck through it. As it posed a safety hazard, it was destroyed and removed from the Blair baseball field. A replacement TURTLE as pictured will require $5000.

So that's why we need your help. Whatever you can afford to give would go a long way to improving the Thunderbolts hitting, players and coach's safety, and maybe help them just enough to be more than a contender this season.

All donations are tax-deductible. All funds raised will be sent directly to the Thunderbolts through the PayPal Giving Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donors will receive a tax receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund.

Your support helps the Thunderbolts conduct the following activities each year: 1) provides free youth baseball clinics featuring our Thunderbolt players, 2) makes donations to local fund- raising auctions at schools, child care centers, and other groups, 3) operates an intern-management program for high school and college age students, 4) provides a bat boy/bat girl program for boys and girls between the ages of 10-13, 5) operates a host family program for our players from outside the Washington DC area who interact with and support the community, 6) provide scholarships to our Junior Thunderbolts Baseball Camps operated locally by the Thunderbolts coach and players, 7) provides monetary contributions to the area youth baseball leagues, 8) Thunderbolt players collect food for the annual Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League Feed the Hungry Challenge for the Manna Food Center 9) provides a fun family-friendly baseball game experience, including game day activities: races around the bases, 10) Provides free admission to all games for children wearing a team uniform.

Learn more about the history of the Silver Spring - Takoma Thunderbolts