Eric Byrnes was on Chase Utley’s team at UCLA. That’s pretty much how he remembers it, even though Byrnes was a senior and Utley was a freshman. You were on Utley’s team.
Byrnes went on to a distinguished outfielding career, mostly in Oakland and Arizona. He is now an MLB Network analyst. Utley is 37, a guru in some ways, still a freshman in others. Every day brings a chance to make the team.
“I guess the one play everybody remembers was in the playoffs last year,” Byrnes said, remembering Utley’s rulebook-changing moment in the National League Division Series, when he broke the leg of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada with a ruthless slide right out of the Harding administration.