Mets fans tell Chase Utley during WFAN radio appearance that they still hate him
“Obviously I respect the hell out of you as a baseball fan. But I also hate you.”
First time, long time.
Chase Utley was a New York City radio host Wednesday morning for the first time and learned in his 20-minute segment that it will be a long time before Mets fans lose their dislike of the former Phillies star.
Utley, appearing on WFAN’s Boomer and Gio Show with Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, took phone calls from angry Mets fans who repeatedly told the former Phillies star how much they hated him.
“Obviously, I respect the hell out of you, as a baseball fan,” said Antonio from East Meadow. “But I also hate you.”
Utley thanked him. The anger was no surprise, as Utley shared a story about how a 10-year-old Mets fan shouted, “I hope you blanking die!” as Utley walked off the field in New York. Utley said he looked at the boy’s father, assuming he would reprimand his son. Instead, Utley said, the dad repeated his son’s words.
“I just said, ‘OK, I get it,’ ” Utley said. “Here in New York, I’m a villain.”
Mets fans’ dislike for Utley stemmed from his days with the Phillies, but it erupted in October 2015 when he was with the Dodgers and his slide into second base broke the leg of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada during the NL Division Series.
Richie in Franklin Square said he wished the Mets had someone who played with Utley’s intensity, “but I did hate you.” Utley thanked him, too. Paul in Brooklyn asked Utley whether he thought he should have been suspended for the play. Utley said no.
“I slid hard,” Utley said. “Listen, if his leg doesn’t break, we’re not having this conversation and I’m not the villain. We collided at the inopportune time for his leg. It’s unfortunate, and I would do it over again if I could.”
Utley said that if he knew Tejada’s leg was going to break, he would not have slid as hard. The intent, Utley said, was to break up a double play and not hurt the opponent. He tried to reach out numerous times to apologize to Tejada, who Utley said did not want to talk to him. He tried using David Wright as an intermediary, but that failed, too. Utley said he sent Tejada “a very nice bottle of tequila to say sorry.”
Next up was Callie from Connecticut, who started her phone call by saying she appreciates the charity work Utley has done with dogs and kids. Utley was appearing on the show on behalf of a program run by Scotts to refurbish youth baseball fields.
“Good for you,” she said. “But that’s the last thing I’m going to tell you that I really respect about you. If you came out here and told me, ‘I liked being the villain. I didn’t really care. It was fun for me. It was part of the game,’ I might have even respected that a little bit more. But it doesn’t really seem like you care about anything. I just need you to know, as Mets fans, how annoying it was to come and watch you. I respect that you’re a good player. I understand that. But when you took out my shortstop in the playoffs, that wasn’t about talent. It was just dirty. I don’t care how long you tell me that that was just you being old-school. That was you being dirty, because that’s what you do.”
That was it for Callie from Connecticut. The hosts cut her off.
“Thank you, Callie,” Utley said. “See ya, sweetheart.”