{"id":21264,"date":"2025-07-25T15:59:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:59:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-did-ricketts-park-get-its-name\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:04:42","slug":"how-did-ricketts-park-get-its-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-did-ricketts-park-get-its-name\/","title":{"rendered":"How did Ricketts Park get its name?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A young Orval Ricketts. (Courtesy Paul Skipper\/ FindaGrave.com)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear Mr. Know-It-All:<\/p>\n

With the annual Connie Mack World Series in full swing, it\u2019s always a great community event, but I was wondering about Ricketts Park. How did it get that name?<\/p>\n

Signed,<\/p>\n

Frito Pie Lover<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear FPL,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thanks for the question. Spectators have been gathering at Ricketts Park, 1101 Fairgrounds Road, for more than 85 years. Well, let me be clear, the baseball park hasn\u2019t been there for 85 years, but in 1939, according to the book \u201cHomesteads to Boomtown,\u201d written by Marilu Waybourn, 30 acres in this area was purchased by the city of Farmington to be used as a permanent fairgrounds. The property also had room for a track and a city park. What a coincidence to locate the fairgrounds on Fairgrounds Road, right?<\/p>\n

But after about 20 years, a baseball field was added to the fairgrounds space, and in 1965, the Connie Mack World Series began playing baseball at Ricketts Park and has really never stopped, except for the pandemic year of 2020.<\/p>\n

But you asked about the name, and for that, we need to talk about Orval Ricketts. Ricketts was a journalist, a writer, and a businessman. He was born in 1891 and died in 1960. As the story goes, Ricketts father died when he was very young, so he went to work to help support his mother and two sisters. It was reported that one of his first jobs was chopping weeds at a local ranch for $4.50 a month, which included meals! Ricketts, who only had an eighth grade education, went to work in the newspaper business and eventually bought the local newspaper with a business partner. The Farmington Times Hustler had been published since 1903. Waybourn\u2019s book tells us that in 1949, Farmington was already showing signs of the boom that would arrive in the 1950s. Orval Ricketts and his partner, G. Lyndall Butler (who\u2019s family gave their name to Farmington\u2019s Butler Avenue), sold the newspaper to New Mexico Newspapers, which launched the Farmington Daily Times on Aug. 1, 1949.<\/p>\n

Ricketts was also a writer. One of his books of poetry, \u201cMy Window on the Mesa,\u201d was published in 1950 and written in four parts, according to a listing on biblio.com: Part 1, My Garden is a Stage; Part 2, Those Who Wait; Part 3, New England Ways; and Part 4, Vintage. Part 4 deals with early New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Ricketts Park has always been a city of Farmington facility, but has been shared with the American Amateur Baseball Congress for the Connie Mack World Series, Farmington Municipal Schools games and more!<\/p>\n

\"Ricketts
Ricketts Park, showing the 2013 exterior renovations. (Scott Michlin\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ricketts
Ricketts Park, showing the 2013 exterior renovations. (Scott Michlin\/Special to Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Ricketts Park can accommodate 6,100 fans. The park went through two recent major renovations, beginning in 1999. According to the Farmington Daily Times <\/em>archive from Oct. 21, 1999, the park underwent a major upgrade that cost $1.65 million and added 1,500 seats. More renovations in 2013 added exterior brickwork and sculptures, as well as other improvements to the field. Funding for these improvements came from many sources, including a Federal budget appropriation, city funds, and donations from local businesses and residents.<\/p>\n

So, enjoy the 60th annual Connie Mack World Series, and while you\u2019re sitting and enjoying America\u2019s favorite pastime, think about the man, the vision and the community that makes it all possible.<\/p>\n

Mr. Know-It-All is Scott Michlin, the general manager of KSJE 90.9FM community-supported radio at San Juan College. When he\u2019s not answering questions here or on the radio, you might find him teaching public speaking or mass media classes at San Juan College, or serving on the board of directors for San Juan United Way, Presbyterian Medical Services, or the San Juan Symphony.<\/p>\n

If you have a question about something in San Juan County, drop him a line at SMichlin@tricityrecordnm.com<\/a>. If he doesn\u2019t know the answer, he knows someone who does and you\u2019ll read about it here in the pages of the Tri-City Record!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young Orval Ricketts. (Courtesy Paul Skipper\/ FindaGrave.com) Dear Mr. Know-It-All: With the annual Connie Mack World Series in full swing, it\u2019s always a great community event, but I was wondering about Ricketts Park. How did it get that name? Signed, Frito Pie Lover Dear FPL, Thanks for the question. Spectators have been gathering at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2167,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-connie-mack-archives","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77235,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264\/revisions\/77235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21264"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}