{"id":130,"date":"2010-04-25T18:19:50","date_gmt":"2010-04-25T23:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=130"},"modified":"2010-05-09T04:13:39","modified_gmt":"2010-05-09T09:13:39","slug":"ricketts-park-a-true-diamond-in-the-rough-part-i-by-griffin-phelps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/130","title":{"rendered":"Ricketts Park: A True Diamond in the Rough (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"
April 25, 2010<\/div>\n

\"ricketts\"<\/p>\n

My first full season as a high school baseball coach has finally come to an end.\u00a0 For the grand finale, we were able to hook the C-teamers up with a dream come true\u2026playing at Ricketts Park<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 They got the whole deal, including pre-game batting practice on the field.\u00a0 Watching the grins roll across those 8th and 9th graders faces reminded me just how special Ricketts is.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t help but smile too, seeing as how this was my first time coaching on Ricketts as a Scorpion<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is that unforgettable feeling, that you can only get when you play baseball on Ricketts, which is acting as the inspiration for this piece.
\nGrowing up in Farmington, New Mexico has allowed me to enjoy one of the greatest treasures that baseball has to offer, Ricketts Park<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 For those of you who are unfamiliar with Farmington, or Ricketts, let me tell you about this ball field.\u00a0 It is a spectacular yard.\u00a0 Its dimensions are 330\u2019 down the lines, 370\u2019 to the gaps, and 400\u2019 to dead center.\u00a0 The wall is approximately 20\u2019 tall, give or take a few feet.\u00a0 The outfield walls are covered with two rows of signs advertising for local businesses.\u00a0 Surrounding this field is a stadium setting, similar to a spring training or minor league yard.\u00a0 The seats extend from behind home plate, down the lines, but not all the way out to the fence.\u00a0 Seating is arranged in two tiers.\u00a0 The lower tier has actual stadium seating, while the upper tier is comprised of bleacher seats.\u00a0 The stadium holds over 6,100 people at full capacity.\u00a0 If you would like to see larger pictures of this high-desert oasis, please click on each individual photo:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Ricketts Park holds a special place in a local baseball player\u2019s heart.\u00a0 As a young child, it is where you can go with your family to watch big kid baseball.\u00a0 As you age, and enter high school, it becomes your goal to make the varsity squad and play and practice on the field daily.\u00a0 At age 16, you have your first chance to play in the Connie Mack summer league whose games are played on Ricketts.\u00a0 And if you win that summer league, you are invited to partake in one of the greatest amateur baseball tournaments this world has to offer\u2026The Connie Mack World Series.\u00a0 Teams from all corners of the nation come together in Farmington, for one week, and play on Ricketts in front of a packed house until a champion is decided.\u00a0 It is one of the greatest weeks of the year for me, as well my fellow blogger, Dee<\/strong>.\u00a0 See, Ricketts means something special to baseball players in Farmington, New Mexico.\u00a0 Every age group sees something special about the place.\u00a0 It is a diamond in the rough.\u00a0 It is THE landmark of the entire city.\u00a0 Ricketts Park is baseball.<\/p>\n

This is simply an introduction.\u00a0 It is the first in a series of pieces on Ricketts Park, and what it means to a kid who grew up playing baseball in little, old, podunk Farmington, New Mexico.\u00a0 I feel truly blessed to have this baseball field in my hometown.\u00a0 Hopefully, piece-by-piece, I will allow you to experience the joys of baseball at Ricketts vicariously.\u00a0 Hopefully.\u00a0 One.
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April 25, 2010 My first full season as a high school baseball coach has finally come to an end.\u00a0 For the grand finale, we were able to hook the C-teamers up with a dream come true\u2026playing at Ricketts Park.\u00a0 They got the whole deal, including pre-game batting practice on the field.\u00a0 Watching the grins roll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,17,8],"tags":[256,48,242,269,270],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}