{"id":683,"date":"2010-07-30T15:14:35","date_gmt":"2010-07-30T20:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=683"},"modified":"2010-07-30T15:14:35","modified_gmt":"2010-07-30T20:14:35","slug":"the-final-chapter-of-the-ricketts-park-series-connie-mack-world-series-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/683","title":{"rendered":"The Final Chapter of the Ricketts Park Series: Connie Mack World Series Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>How you doin Sombrero Nation?\u00a0 I know I have not posted in a while and I apologize for that.\u00a0 I have been busy handling my coaching duties for the Farmington Cardinals, your 2010 FABC representative Host team in the 2010 Connie Mack World Series.\u00a0 I say that with pride.\u00a0 The Cardinals were the winner of the local city league (state) tournament.\u00a0 Winner of this tourney gets an automatic bid in the annual Connie Mack World Series tournament.<\/p>\n

Early in the year I began writing pieces<\/a> about my city\u2019s spectacular baseball field, Ricketts Park.\u00a0 As the start of August runs near, the FABC Connie Mack League embarks on a journey.\u00a0 This journey leads to the holy grail of Amateur baseball, the one and only Ricketts Park.\u00a0 As the local teams of the Farmington league do battle, every last one of them has one common one thought in their brain; \u201cIf we win this thing, I get to be in the Connie Mack World Series!\u201d\u00a0 I write this piece with a special piece of my heart, for I grew up and still reside in Farmington, NM.\u00a0 I grew up watching first round draft picks play on the field that I hoped to one day play on myself.\u00a0 As a 17 year old I lost in the championship round after throwing a complete game 1 hitter (that can still be argued today as a no-hitter) and lost.\u00a0 As an 18 year old, I was beat on Championship Night by Mike Dunn, who just recently got called back to the show by the Braves.\u00a0 Last year he even won a ring with the Yankees.\u00a0 Not a bad guy to lose to at 18 years old.\u00a0 Then, last year, fellow writer Barfy<\/a> and I lost on championship night; as coaches.\u00a0 I was actually picked up my 18 year old summer by Barfy\u2019s team, the Sky Sox.\u00a0 But I digress.\u00a0 There will be time for a trip down memory lane later.<\/p>\n

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Growing up in Farmington means spending years as a youngin\u2019 in the game, sitting in the stadium bleachers watching the greats play.\u00a0 Greats are the other teams that come here for the week.\u00a0 By greats, I mean one of the greatest ever played the exact same centerfield grass that I played in years later.\u00a0 That\u2019s right, Ken Griffey Jr. roamed that outfield at as a 15 year old kid, for the Midland Redskins, before he became The Kid we would all fall head over heels in love with.<\/p>\n

As a young kid I dreamed of playing in the Series.\u00a0 I remember when I was 12 and got my first real baseball glove, the famous Rawlings Griffey trapeze model in 12\u201d, and it was described to me as being \u201cthe exact same glove as the ones the guys use in the Connie Mack World Series<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 It was everything to me, to be in this CMWS thing.\u00a0 As I grew older, I began to see the tournament in a new light.\u00a0 Turns out, not just any old ball player is in this tournament.\u00a0 Every single one of those guys is playing college in baseball, I tell myself.<\/p>\n

Every year, after AABC leagues across America and Puerto Rico have finished finding winners from different, predetermined regional areas, the 10 teams left standing convene on little, old, oil and gas town, Farmington, New Mexico for one week of the summer in August.\u00a0 This year\u2019s dates are Aug.6- 13th<\/sup>.\u00a0 The Connie Mack World Series is the greatest thing that this town (Farmington) has to offer.\u00a0 It has helped the city turn a baseball field into a baseball stadium that rivals any high school field in the nation.\u00a0 Some places have their county fair to help mark the end of summer.\u00a0 In Farmington, we have the Connie Mack World Series.<\/p>\n

The weeklong extravaganza hits the ground running as the first teams begin to arrive from their various destinations at the Farmington Civic Center for sign-ins.\u00a0 Before they enter the building they are given a private viewing of the local high school dance talent.\u00a0 Those boys eat it up.\u00a0 After that show is over the ballplayers find themselves inside the actual Civic Center.\u00a0 Many different things are going on inside.\u00a0 This includes filling out proper paperwork and signing in, or maybe an interview with a local reporter coving your first game, and finally, meeting your new host family for the first time.\u00a0 There are also booths set up and each booth is selling memorabilia with your team logo.\u00a0 It\u2019s a trip.\u00a0 It really is the first time, as a baseball player, a kid feels like they have made it in their sport.\u00a0 This is the exact feeling upon arriving at the Civic Center (via police escort by the way) and seeing all of this going on.\u00a0 Once inside, the players and coaches are ushered in to the auditorium for their pre-tournament meeting with all the heads of AABC and FABC.\u00a0 They talk about rules.\u00a0 They talk about how you are not to be throwing baseball games for anybody.\u00a0 I know it seems a bit drastic, but they really want you to understand how big of an event this actually is.\u00a0 They even have to talk to us about not talking to agents or accepting any gifts from people besides our host families.\u00a0 Because of the level of talent that is in this one tournament, people are on high alert for anything.\u00a0 The whole charade is over in 15 minutes, max.\u00a0 The whole time they talk to you, the championship trophy is sitting on a table in front of them.\u00a0 With your eyes finally getting to see the prize, players then head out and head home with their respective host families.<\/p>\n

All night games are sellout crowds.\u00a0 I\u2019m not talking hundreds either.\u00a0 We are talking a few thousand fans, sitting in a stadium setting around this ball field.\u00a0 They are especially packed for the opening game of the home-town Host team.\u00a0 The support gives you the idea that you are not just playing for your team anymore.\u00a0 It is the first time that the team actually have fans who are paying to see them.\u00a0 Yet just another new level of respect a player reaches, and receives, during the greatest week of a Farmington summer.\u00a0 If you play great in the CMWS, you our considered top notch talent.\u00a0 I refuse to name drop anymore than I have already and will only say that many of the guys you see during this event reach The Show and have a meaningful impact.<\/p>\n

Plain and simple, the week of the CMWS is tits.\u00a0 You play national, top level, talent in front of thousands.\u00a0 If you are from Farmington, it means more than that.\u00a0 It means you have to now represent an entire city.\u00a0 People are paying money to watch you, and have never met you.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u00a0 Amateur baseball at its finest and Farmington pulls it off year in and year out.\u00a0 So if you ever get a chance to swing through little, old, Farmington, make sure you check out the city\u2019s gift to baseball.\u00a0 The one.\u00a0 The only.\u00a0 Ricketts Park.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How you doin Sombrero Nation?\u00a0 I know I have not posted in a while and I apologize for that.\u00a0 I have been busy handling my coaching duties for the Farmington Cardinals, your 2010 FABC representative Host team in the 2010 Connie Mack World Series.\u00a0 I say that with pride.\u00a0 The Cardinals were the winner of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,17,8,9,14],"tags":[609,633,506,505,634,44,269],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683"}],"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=683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}