The Mythos Of 'The Man': Chase Utley Will Be Inducted Into Phillies Wall Of Fame

PHILADELPHIA, PA — When Chase Utley first stepped into the batter's box at old Veteran's Stadium twenty three years ago, the bases were loaded with two outs. He applied his trademark check swing to a slider low and inside, golfing the ball inches from the dirt and sending it soaring into the right field bleachers just a few hundred feet from where he'll be memorialized forever this summer on the brick wall in Ashburn Alley.

The Phillies announced Thursday that Utley, one of the greatest second basemen in baseball history and a towering figure in Philadelphia sports legend, will be added to their Wall of Fame. The event is set for Friday, Aug. 7, just before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

"A chance for the youngster to do some real damage here," Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas famously said that April afternoon, moments before Utley's grand slam, his first big league hit, cracked open a new era in south Philly.

Indeed, the National League remembers damage.

Over the next thirteen years, Utley led the Phillies to the 2008 World Series, the 2009 National League pennant, and five straight NL East titles from 2007 to 2011. He was named to the All Star team six times, won four Silver Slugger awards, and compiled career stats comparable to icons at his position like Jackie Robinson and Ryne Sandberg.

He's widely considered a favorite to be inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame within the next few ballots, possibly as early as 2027.

But Philly fans don't remember the numbers as much as the moments, the fearlessness, the man who defined clutch, Philadelphia's own Mr. October. He wasn't just faster, or a stronger hitter, or a slicker fielder than his opponents. The Silver Fox was clever, and he could beat you a thousand ways.

In the 2009 World Series against the New York Yankees, Utley hit two home runs in Game 1 and a historic five across the series. He squared up against the craftiest left-hander in the game at the time in C.C. Sabathia. In 121 years, only Reggie Jackson and George Springer have matched Utley's feat.

Destroying the Mets is something of a litmus test for a "true" Phillie, and Utley was both famous and infamous around the country for his utter domination of the boys in orange and blue, New York's second team in colors of spew. He ripped 39 home runs in 194 games against the Phils archrivals. Years later, when asked if he hated the Mets, he answered quickly, "I do, I do."

But often it was smaller, unexpected moments that were even more stunning and that have rung more resoundingly in history. Like the pump fake throw to first in the rainy, decisive Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, which baited Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett to round third and head to home. Utley, still at a half gallop from scooping the grounder, still holding the ball, turned in mid-air and threw him out at home.

And then there were countless moments where Utley as a baserunner turned that exact situation on its head, such as when he scored from second on a Ryan Howard ground out that didn't even leave the infield grass.

The afternoon in 2006 is possibly the first time Kalas referred to Utley as "The Man," and once Harry says it, it sticks.

"‘The Man,’ one of the greatest all-time second basemen of the modern era and certainly Cooperstown worthy, will be forever enshrined," Phillies owner John Middleton said Thursday.

But it's the name Chase that became the namesake for Delaware Valley children and pets for a generation. And now, Utley will take his place on the bricks. Fittingly, his plaque will be immediately adjacent to the most recent inductee last summer, his double play mate for 12 years, Jimmy Rollins.

Beyond the Wall in Ashburn Alley and through the slats of the fencing are the hallows where the Vet was stood. Today they're Lots U and T and they sit directly to the west. During the third or fourth inning the setting sun falls just beyond there, past Broad and Pattison. Shadows fall sharply and blur lots, stadiums, worlds. Afterimages spot your sight. Many more stadiums must rise and fall again before number twenty six is not conjured by that dusk.