In the fairly mediocre baseball movie filmed in Philadelphia, Stealing Home, Mark Harmon played a high school baseball star. Thirteen years after high school he was playing in a semi-pro league and his girlfriend was asked what position he played. She replied, “He’s a baseball player.”
On July 13, probably the best “baseball player” in the MLB, Chase Utley, announced his retirement. By “baseball player,” I don’t mean the most talented or the biggest star or the most productive. I mean someone who played the game of baseball as it was played for decades and decades – up until fairly recently.