The Official Site of Chase Utley

Thu, Jul 17th 2008, 10:27

Utley enjoys All-Star Game spectacle

The parade up Sixth Avenue. The YouTube moment. The Home Run Derby. The 40 dozen autographs.

Chase Utley’s third trip to the All-Star Game didn’t end in victory last night, but he certainly left with some interesting parting gifts.

The much-hyped Yankee Stadium All-Star Game ended the way so many others have in recent years, with an American League win in a famous AL ballpark.

The AL pulled out a 4-3 victory in the bottom of the 15th and once again will enjoy home-field advantage in the World Series.

That might come back to bite Utley in October.

If he and the Phillies are lucky.

Utley left Yankee Stadium with a satchel full of memories. He set up a run with a sixth-inning single as the National League built a 2-0 lead.

Utley’s Yankee Stadium experience, as you know by now, included a social misstep. He dropped a common cuss word on fans who booed him during introductions before Monday night’s Home Run Derby, a moment that is now collecting hits on YouTube.

Utley did it in mild jest, and he didn’t know it would be broadcast on national television. Still, he acknowledged that it shouldn’t have happened, and said he was sorry. This just in: High-strung athletes occasionally swear. It’s over.

The rest of Utley’s Yankee Stadium all-star experience won’t show up on YouTube, but it will certainly remain indelibly etched on his memory.

Well, maybe not the 40 dozen autographs.

“I’ve signed bats, hats, shirts, balls,” said Utley, lucky to have not come down with carpal tunnel syndrome.

This is the memorabilia age and players are as much caught up in it as fans. Much of the memorabilia is taken home by all-star teammates.

It used to be that making the all-star team meant flying into a city, taking a few bows, then playing a game.

Now, it’s two-day event and it goes virtually round-the-clock.

On Monday, there were news conferences, workouts and, for some, such as Utley, the Home Run Derby.

Yesterday, there was a red-carpet parade up Sixth Avenue. Every all-star player was there. So were several dozen Hall of Famers, part of a group of 49 who were later honored in pregame ceremonies.

Utley rode with Mike Schmidt in the parade, and he was looking forward to meeting some of the Hall of Famers before the game.

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