Prior to the start of the 2008 season, the Philadelphia Inquirer examined each position on the Phillies roster in a series of daily articles that would lead up to opening day. Bill Lyon, in my opinion, the Inquirer’s greatest sports writer ever, captured the essence of Chase Utley better than anyone else.
He summed up the second sacker in two words: “dirt bag”.
He was right. Lyon eluded to how Utley’s uniform was always a rainbow of colors, from mud, to grass stains, and even blood. ‘The man’, as he would become known, thanks to a famed quote from Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas, left his heart and soul out on the field.