For more than 60 years, Farmington has hosted the Connie Mack World Series, one of the nation’s top amateur baseball tournaments for players ages 16 to 18. Many of those players go on to compete in college and, in some cases, the major leagues.
In 1975, tournament organizers started the foster parent plan to ease the cost of travel for visiting teams. Since then, local families have opened their homes to teenage ballplayers during the tournament. Many of those relationships have lasted decades including Yan Gomes, a 2026 Connie Mack Hall of Fame inductee and Major League Baseball 2019 World Series champion, who stayed with the Campbell family in 2006.
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Transcript
This experience that these kids are going to go through here, there’s no other tournament that does this where families are welcoming their homes, like opening their houses for them and just taking care of them as a, as one of their owns. It’s exactly how the Campbells were to us. And and it’s a, it’s a lasting impression and lasting memories and you’re, you’re leaving with a new family members for forever.
You’re watching the local news network brought to you by the Four Corners Regional Airport and Durango Motor Company. For over 60 years, Farmington, New Mexico has been home to the Connie Mack World Series, the nation’s premier 16 to 18 year old amateur baseball tournament. Many players who travel to Farmington to compete in this tournament go on to play in colleges of all levels from junior college to division one, as well as professionally, including the highest levels of Major League Baseball. In 1975, in an effort to lighten the financial load of teams traveling to Farmington, the foster parent plan was initiated. Since 1975, local families have volunteered to open their doors to visiting teenage baseball players during the international tournament. Throughout their stay, in many cases, the families and boys develop deep connections that last a lifetime. One example of this is the relationship between 2026 Connie Mack Hall of Fame Inductee, and 2019 Major League World Series champion, Yan Gomes and the Campbell family. We kept Boys for like 20 years. We’ve been doing
This a long
Time. A long
Time. I mean, it’s very like rewarding. It’s fun to do it.
Just really get you involved in the tournament, get, cheer for someone, you come and support them. It makes it really fun. The
Relationships, the relationships that you build with like these players, with their teams, with their families, it’s, I mean, it’s pretty unforgettable.
So it was 20 years ago. 2006, that’s when I got to come hang out with the, with the Campbells. They opened their house for us and it was definitely the, the first step of feeling like I kind of belonged in the game because it was a high level competition as it still is. And it was a great experience.
I mean, it’s 20 years ago that he was here. And so, I mean, we have kept up with him through the years. We’ve met him at several different places. We’ve seen him in college. We’ve seen him in the pros. The relationship just continues to build. And then just seeing like via Facebook, their family’s growing and developing. It’s like awesome. It’s fun to
See their families and see what they do in their regular life.
No, the Campbells have been awesome, man. They, just from, from that time that we spent here with them and they made us a scrapbook and every year, at least a couple times a year, we would keep in touch.
Many organizers of the Connie Mack World Series credit the volunteer host families as the core reason the event remains economically viable. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Network. To learn more, visit farmingtonn.gov. And for more stories like this, visit LNN.news.
