Enjoying life in London, Chase Utley is proud of his career — whether he’s voted into the Hall of Fame or not

Being enshrined in Cooperstown was never “a true end goal” for Utley, who is enjoying the debate over whether he belongs among the game’s best in his first year on the ballot.

Former Phillie Chase Utley has been living in London with his family and working as an ambassador to Europe for MLB.Read moreGetty Images for MLB Europe

by Scott Lauber

Published Jan. 12, 2024, 10:58 a.m. ET

Chase Utley has lived in London for 18 months. On weekends, he likes to travel through Europe with his wife, Jennifer, and their two sons. The Utleys’ idea of ringing in the new year: a nine-day African safari.

In the most literal sense, they couldn’t be farther from the daily trickle of Baseball Hall of Fame voting updates.

And yet ...

“I can’t ignore it,” Utley said.

Not if his father can help it, anyway. Every few days, whether Utley asks for it or not (and he never actually asks for it), an email lands in his inbox with the up-to-the-minute tally and occasionally a link to a ballot-explaining column authored by one of the nearly 400 voters.

So, even in Kenya last week, it didn’t escape the iconic Phillies second baseman’s notice that he has gotten roughly 46% of the votes from among nearly 150 ballots that have been made public, according to Ryan Thibodaux’s exhaustive tracker, far less than the 75% needed for election to the Hall of Fame but a strong first-ballot showing.

“I’m excited that we’re just having this conversation,” Utley said by phone Thursday. “It’s a humbling experience to know that you’re on the ballot with some of the best players to have ever played, so I’m looking forward to kind of seeing how it all unfolds.”

There won’t be much suspense for Utley, at least not this year. When the results are announced Jan. 23, he won’t get a late-night (in London) call from Cooperstown. Based on polling data, Todd Helton and first-time eligible Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer stand the best chances of topping 75%.

But if Utley finishes above 40%, he figures to be in good position to eventually get elected. Since annual voting resumed in 1966, 27 players reached at least 40% while falling short of 75% in their first year on the ballot. Aside from Carlos Beltrán last year, only Steve Garvey didn’t end up in the Hall of Fame.

(Full disclosure: I voted for Utley after covering him with the Phillies from 2006 to 2009, his four best seasons. Inquirer voters will reveal their ballots next week.)

Utley, who turned 45 last month, is MLB’s ambassador to Europe, an actual job in the league’s London office that entails spreading the gospel of baseball overseas by, among other things, connecting with youth players and coaches.

As MLB promotes its annual two-game London Series, Utley plays a central role. The event hits close to home this year, with the Phillies set to cross the pond to face the Mets on June 8-9. When tickets went on sale last month, Utley joined fans in a promotional pub quiz in central London.

Utley describes ticket sales as “doing pretty well” and likely to pick up in the spring. Last year, the Cubs and Cardinals drew a total of 110,227 fans, mostly expats from the U.S. and transatlantic travelers but also some Brits.

Nobody expects baseball to ever approximate the popularity of soccer — sorry, football — in the United Kingdom, but since the Cubs and Cardinals visited, Utley has seen traces of carryover interest, especially among his sons’ friends at the American School in London.

“I invited four-five guys that I met over here, some locals, some guys that moved over here from the States, but they all have young kids who, it was their first experience watching a baseball game,” said Utley, who plans to stay in London for the rest of this year and possibly next year. “And I know all four kids are now baseball fans, which I think is a very cool thing.”

Imagine if they had a Hall of Famer in their midst.

Respecting the process

Utley admits the Hall of Fame voting process was “not something that I ever thought about as a player.” But as many of his contemporaries, including longtime double-play partner Jimmy Rollins, appeared on the ballot, he began to learn more about it.

And he’s fascinated by the varied opinions.

“I’ve definitely educated myself much more on it the last few years,” Utley said. “I think the debate aspect of it is amazing. Everyone has a team of players that they support. It’s always fun to hear their opinions and give your opinions and see where that debate goes.”

The debate about Utley — Rollins, too, in his third year on the ballot — centers on peak vs. longevity.

Utley’s backers claim that his peak lasted nine seasons (2005-13). His detractors cite injuries to both knees in 2011-12 and believe his peak was closer to six years.

Regardless, Utley’s production during that time was undeniable. From 2005 to 2013, he batted .290/.379/.503 with 277 doubles, 202 homers, and 123 steals (in 139 attempts). He got selected to five All-Star games, had three top-10 MVP finishes, and amassed 56 wins above replacement, more than only Albert Pujols.

Utley’s pump-fake to first base and peg to home plate to cut down the go-ahead run in World Series-clinching Game 5 in 2008 was an enduring play in Phillies history. He hit five homers against the Yankees in the 2009 World Series and would’ve been the MVP if the Phillies had won.

By any measure, Utley was the best second baseman in the National League — and maybe the best in the majors, considering Robinson Canó's numbers are clouded by two positive drug tests later in his career.

But those knee and hip injuries shortened Utley’s prime, which also began later than it should have. Despite getting drafted out of college in the first round in 2000, Utley didn’t make his major league debut until 2003 (at age 24) or secure an everyday job until 2005 (at 26) because the Phillies wouldn’t move Plácido Polanco off second base.

As a consequence of the delayed start and mid-career health problems, Utley finished with 1,885 hits. In the expansion era (since 1960), no player with less than 2,000 hits has been elected to the Hall of Fame by the writers.

Some voters will hold that against Utley. It’s all part of the debate.

“Everyone has a strong feeling one way or the other, and I respect everyone’s opinion,” Utley said. “I come at it from the standpoint of, I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish in my career on the field, off the field, in the clubhouse.

“Growing up as a kid, it wasn’t, ‘I want to go to the Hall of Fame.’ It was, ‘I love baseball, I want to play it, I want to try to earn a scholarship to go to college, I want to get drafted, I want to play in the major leagues, I’d love to make an All-Star team, I’d love to win a World Series.’ Never was there a thought process of the Hall of Fame. Because it was never a true, true end goal for me, I’m not going to be disappointed if someone doesn’t vote for me.”

Rooting for Rollins

Utley never cared for self-promotion as a player and isn’t about to start by touting his Hall of Fame credentials. But he’s eager to take up the case for Rollins, whose candidacy is largely the inverse of his own.

While the best argument for Utley is the height of a short peak, Rollins’ support is based largely on longevity. He debuted at age 21 and was remarkably durable, playing in 2,275 games over 17 seasons. (Utley played in 1,937 games over 16 seasons.)

As such, Rollins racked up gaudy counting numbers. He’s the all-time leader in hits for the Phillies, who have existed for 141 seasons, and finished with 2,455 hits overall. The list of shortstops with 200 career homers and 400 steals: Rollins. That’s it.

But Rollins’ peak was largely flat. Other than his MVP season in 2007, when he hit 30 homers and posted an .875 OPS, he had an OPS above .800 only twice. His overall OPS-plus was 5% below league average.

Rollins’ career numbers (.264/.324/.418, 511 doubles, 231 homers, 470 steals) aren’t dissimilar to those of José Reyes (.283/.334/.427, 387 doubles, 145 homers, 517 steals), the former Mets shortstop who isn’t getting much consideration in his first year on the ballot.

After eking out 9.4% of the vote in 2022, Rollins got a modest bump to 12.9% last year. Through Thursday, he was tracking at 13.9%, with enough votes to stay on the ballot for another year.

Utley’s biased, but he wishes Rollins didn’t have to sweat it.

“I will be the last person to promote myself, but I will be the first person to promote Jimmy Rollins and how important he was to the dynamic of our team during that amazing run that we had,” Utley said. “He was our catalyst. He was our spark plug. I’m not telling you anything that you don’t know. We followed his lead. He motivated us. He had the ability to make players around him better. That’s one of the biggest compliments I can give someone.”

Spoken like a double-play partner for 1,227 games, the longest stretch of any tandem in NL history. It’s fitting, then, that Utley and Rollins will continue to appear on the ballot together.

And for however long they remain, no matter how far away Utley lives, his father will be sure to provide the voting updates.

“My dad was one of several people that have helped me achieve my ultimate goal,” Utley said, laughing. “He’s a proud dad ... which he should be.”