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Chase Utley has had an illustrious career with the Phillies. Thankfully, he will stay with the Phillies, where he will continue to be awesomer than all of us, and also most other baseball players.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, why don't we revisit some of Chase Utley's most excellent moments?
How could we not start with Utley's first major league hit? There are so many things to love about that clip. Harry Kalas' home run call is always a pleasure to hear -- the way the tone of his voice would go up and then cadence into "OUTTA HERRRE". Utley is trucking around the bases like his pants are on fire, or like he's being chased by the Road Runner. And the only thing that betrays his excitement is the way he slaps his teammates' hands at home plate -- so hard I'm amazed their hands were still attached.
The combination of Harry Kalas and Chase Utley never failed to disappoint. This was an iconic moment. It's why we call him The Man. Heads-up baserunning and heads-up broadcasting.
Ask me about my single favorite play of all time, and this is what I'll tell you about. It's proof that Chase Utley is operating on a higher level than pretty much everyone.
And who can bring up the 2008 World Series without also mentioning this, the moment when Philadelphia's love of Chase Utley threatened to lift the city aloft so it could float on the clouds forever?
The 2009 World Series is such an oddity in recent Phillies history, in that most people never talk about it. The pain of 2010 and 2011 are well remembered, but their trip to the actual World Series for the second straight year is not brought up often. Which is a shame, because it causes most people to forget that Chase Utley was fucking amazing. He TIED Reggie Jackson's WS home run record.
And because of the forgetting, why not watch all of Utley's 2009 World Series home runs back to back?
If I have to explain to you why this clip is here, then you are clearly on the wrong blog. But I suspect that you know exactly why this clip is here, and you are welcome to watch it as many times as you want. I suggest at least five.
This is just a small, tiny, minuscule sampling of Chase Utley's utter awesomeness. To experience it all at once would probably cause your brain to liquefy. But there are so many more moments. Link your favorites in the comments or put them in a fanpost. There is no such thing as too much Utley. A world without Utley is a world without sunshine. And in that respect, our future is bright.