Chase Utley's dad recalls the moments behind a Phillies legend originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
On Friday night, the Phillies will honor Chase Utley with a place on their prestigious Wall of Fame.
It is a moment he almost seemed destined for from the time he debuted with the club in April 2003 in a long-gone place called Veterans Stadium.
Seriously, who belts a grand slam for their first big-league hit?
Chase Utley did.
He also became a six-time All-Star second baseman, a World Series Champion, a fan favorite and a most respected teammate for his will to win, his commitment to the game, his hard-nosed style of playing it and the toughness he showed battling through knee injuries that the people who love him most feared would end his career.
“It’s like an out-of-body experience,” Dave Utley, Chase’s dad said more than 20 years ago when he described the feeling of coming to a game in Philadelphia and seeing scores of fans wearing his son’s name on the back of their jerseys.
All these years later …
“It still is,” Dave Utley said in a conversation earlier this week. “It still is.”
There is a storybook feel to all of this. A kid from Long Beach, California passes on a chance to chase his dreams with his hometown team and goes across the country to become one of the most beloved athletes in the history of sports-crazy Philadelphia, right up there with Bernie Parent, Brian Dawkins, Julius Irving and a few others.
“Chase’s mom and I are amazed by it,” Dave Utley said. “I mean, he was the kid whose diapers we used to change.
“There have been so many prideful moments over the years, but this one Friday night will be like the cherry on top of the sundae.”
THE DECISION
Dave and Terrell Utley and their daughter, Taylor, will all be at Citizens Bank Park to see their son and brother receive the ultimate Phillies honor.
They wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for a decision Chase made after his senior year of high school.
He had been selected in the second round of the 1997 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team he grew up rooting for.
With an assist from noted agent Arn Tellem, Dave Utley, an attorney, handled negotiations with the Dodgers. He felt pretty good about himself when the team pushed its offer close to $1 million.
But deep down inside, he and Terrell hoped their son would choose to go to college.
They were careful not to influence his decision and were thrilled when he chose to accept a baseball scholarship to UCLA.
“At the end of the day, both my wife and I stressed to Chase that it was his decision,” Dave said. “And he made the right decision.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. We were happy with it because my wife had sensed from Chase’s body language that he was uncomfortable, that he was torn over what to do. The only thing I asked was that he personally call the Oklahoma coach and tell him of his decision. It had come down to Oklahoma and UCLA if he was going to go to college.”
It’s not an exaggeration to say the decision that Chase Utley made as an 18-year-old was life-defining.
He became an All-American at UCLA and a first-round draft pick of the Phillies in 2000.
During his time at UCLA, a teammate on the baseball team named Freddie Mitchell – yes, that Freddie Mitchell – introduced Chase to Jen Cooper. They married in 2007 and are the parents of two sons.
“Thank goodness Freddie introduced them,” Dave said with a laugh.
And thank goodness for Freddie’s hands. (Sorry, Dave. Inside joke.)
THE PAIN
As a young player, Chase was extremely guarded with the media. But eventually, if he got to know you, he’d let you in, tell you about his boyhood, the hours spent in the local batting cage, the ferocious Wiffle Ball games in neighbor Denny Mayfield’s yard, where the out didn’t count unless it left a welt on your body. No wonder those 204 career hit-by-pitches never bothered him. Well, all but the one that broke his wrist in 2007, costing him a serious run at the National League MVP award.
But there were a couple of areas Chase would never go with a media member. He would never betray a clubhouse confidence, never run down a teammate or the organization. And he would never talk – at least specifically – about an injury. And with his intense playing style, he racked up a number of them. When it came to matters inside the clubhouse or matters of his health, he was fiercely private.
In spring training 2011, he was beset with patellar tendinitis in his right knee that was so excruciatingly painful it prevented him from participating in workouts. That ate him up because he was a grinder, a field rat who loved working at the game. At Chase’s insistence, the condition was described publicly as “leg soreness.”
He didn’t even tell his parents what was going on.
“That was tough for Terrell and I,” Dave said with a sigh. “In fact, when we started reading that he was taking ground balls in a chair, she insisted I go back there and talk to him and find out what was going on. He was very private about it.
“I took a red eye and showed up at the ballpark in Clearwater and they were sold out. So, I called him and when he answered I asked him if he still had any clout and could get me a ticket. His reaction to me being there was W-T-F.
“We went out to dinner that night and he ran through what was happening and what his plan was. Shortly after that, he went to Arizona and worked with Brett Fischer, a physical therapist who helped him a lot.”
Chase missed the first 46 games of that 2011 season but made it back to help the Phillies win a team-record 102 games. He missed even more time in 2012, when the condition cropped up in his left knee. Eventually, Fischer helped him get his knees aligned and Phillies athletic trainer Scott Sheridan oversaw a daily maintenance plan that allowed him to keep playing. Hours before first pitch every day, Sheridan worked with Utley, getting him ready for that night’s game. Not once did Utley leave the trainer’s room without saying, “Thank you.”
Dave Utley was asked if his very private son was ever fearful that the knee issues would end his career.
“He never put that into words, but you know he had to be,” Dave said. “He was equally frustrated that he couldn’t play and help the team.”
One thing is for sure. Dave and Terrell feared the knee problems could end their son’s career.
“Sure, we did,” Dave said. “He couldn’t play. And nobody, at least we didn’t appreciate, and the general public didn’t appreciate, how bad his knees hurt. He couldn’t power through it.
“He researched his options. He went to Germany to see doctors. He opted not to have surgery. He used special orthotics instead that helped correct things that were going on with his legs and eventually got through it.”
THE MOMENTS
As parents, Dave and Terrell felt everything their son did during his playing career.
The pain of career-threatening injury.
The triumph of a World Series Championship in 2008.
They were in Citizens Bank Park when Chase cut down that run at the plate with the heads-up defensive play that’ll be talked about forever in Philadelphia. It came in the seventh inning of the clinching Game 5 win over Tampa Bay.
“That was one of many moments I remember so well from that World Series,” Dave Utley said. “Another that I remember so well is Joe Blanton’s home run (in Game 4).
“It was a thrill to be there. As that season wore on, the enthusiasm of the Phillies fans was tremendous. The place just went berserk. Then it was berserk on steroids during the World Series. That was a magical experience.”
It was also a wet experience. Rain pushed the series back a couple of days. Needing to get home to California, Dave and Terrell were not able to stay for the victory parade and one of their son’s signature moments as a Phillie.
“We flew home the morning of the parade,” Dave said. “We heard afterward about Chase’s choice words during his presentation at the stadium. We weren’t sure how to process that at the moment but I think at the end of the day it has become something endearing to Phillies fans rather than something objectionable.”
Oh, it has become endearing, for sure.
“I guess I viewed it two ways,” Dave said. “One, I knew he was speaking from his heart. And two, he probably got some of that language from his dad anyway.
“He thought there might be some pushback, but he seems to have come out of it OK.”
THE PEOPLE
Dave Utley rattles off the names of close to a dozen coaches, mentors and family friends who had an impact on his son’s development as a person and a player.
He mentions Joel Wolfe, who worked as a young agent under Tellem and became Chase’s adviser, confidant and close friend. Wolfe “ushered Chase through the minors,” and was with him every step of the way, putting together a plan to conquer the knee problems.
He mentions John Vukovich, Larry Bowa and Charlie Manuel.
“Their professionalism wore off on him.”
He mentions Jimmy Rollins, Chase’s double-play partner at shortstop.
“What a tag team they were.”
He mentions the fans of Philadelphia.
“We’re so grateful to them.”
He mentions Jen.
“So many good people have had an influence on Chase,” he said. “But the secret sauce was Jen. I think she broadened his perspective on life. She was the furthest thing you could find from a baseball groupie. She held their life together and kept things going on the home front while he was traveling and playing.”
And what about Mom and Dad?
“Chase lived with us until he was 18 and then he was off to college and pro ball,” he said. “Terrell and I take credit for not screwing him up for 18 years.”
THE HONORS
Chase Utley’s enshrinement on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame could be a preview of something even bigger.
He’s been on the Hall of Fame ballot for three years and is up to 59.1 percent of the necessary 75 percent. He’s on a strong course for Cooperstown.
Dave admitted that he follows the voting. How could a dad not?
“Whether that is in his future or not, he’s still a success,” Dave said. “If that didn’t happen, it’s not going to diminish his accomplishments in our eyes.”
And those accomplishments are grand. Dave and Terrell will see – and hear — the proof of it all Friday night when the kid whose diapers they used to change is honored at Citizens Bank Park. It won’t be an out-of-body experience. It’ll be real. And well-deserved.
