Chase Utley joins the show!

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hi, this is Chase Utley and this is the Phillies Show.

00:00:16
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, Welcome to The Philly Show with Ruben Tomorrow, Junior, Jim Salisbury. I'm todd z Lucky. We have a very special Philly Show for you today. Chase Sutley, greatest second basement in franchise history, two thousand and eight World Series champion, no doubt about it, Phillies Hall of Famer, potential Hall of Famer, was just in town recently to promote the twenty twenty four London series between the Phillies and Mets June eighth and ninth at London Stadium. While he was here, Chase was gracious enough with his time to sit down with Rubin, Jim and I for almost an hour. We covered a lot of ground. We talked about London, life in Europe, and of course a lot of great Philly stories. Some stories that you think you knew but you will learn something more about, and some things you have never heard before. I know I've never heard of him before. We think you're going to absolutely love this one. It was a lot of fun. This episode is brought to you by Shibe Vintage Sports. The Phillies are Hot and so are the styles at Shy Vintage Sports. Check them out for all your Philly shirts, hats, and more for kids and adults. Locally owned SHIBE carries exclusive designs from national brands as well as original creations from Philly area artists think powder blue, Maroon, Veterans, Stadium, the Whiz Kids. So visit Shi Vintage Sports in Center City, Wayne and Westchester or at shibsports dot com and remember tell them the Philly Shows sent you for fifteen percent off. So now, without further ado, here is the Phillies Show conversation with Chase Utley. Chase, thank you so much for spending some time with us. You're in town to promote the London series. How excited are you to have the Phillies come to town and playing this last year was the Cubs and the Cardinals. This has got to be a bigger thrill for you.

00:02:19
Speaker 1: I'm much much bigger thrill. First of all, thanks for having me on the show. It's good to connect with you guys. It's been a little bit a little while, yeah, but yeah, happy to be back in town and really fired up as the Phillies are coming to London. You guys know this, but I've been there now, my wife Jen and the kids. We've been there for almost two years, exploring Europe, also promoting baseball and the fact that the Phillies are coming town playing against their nice rival, the Mets. It's really exciting.

00:02:48
Speaker 3: Can you what's this stadium like a soccer stadium? What are we going to say when when you know they played ball?

00:02:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a right now, it's a soccer stadium. It was built for the Olympics when the Olympics were in London, so it's one of the only stadiums in and around London they could fit a baseball field because they had a track around it, so they converted into a baseball field or a baseball pitch, if you will, meaning that's what they call the field and in Europe, and it's gonna be it's gonna be nice. It's it's actually when you walk in, you would think that the field belongs there all the time.

00:03:21
Speaker 4: You wouldn't be.

00:03:22
Speaker 1: Able to tell that it was produced over a two week period and then they're going to tear it, tear it down and turn it back into a soccer field. So that's it's pretty pretty unique they have.

00:03:32
Speaker 3: Do they have a guinea pig who go out because out there and take some ground balls. Would that be you?

00:03:35
Speaker 1: Or that would not be me? No, I'm not gonna be the guinea pig. I mean MLB's kind of done this before in other places, right, obviously other countries they do the games throughout the course of the year. The what's the one they did a few years ago, the Field of Dreams? Dreams did that one? They know what they're doing. They it's kind of plug and play for them.

00:03:57
Speaker 5: I'm just curious, what was your impetus to go a couple of things.

00:04:01
Speaker 6: What was your impetus to get to go to.

00:04:03
Speaker 5: Europe and to spend time there as opposed to staying and having your kids grow up here in the States. And tell us how about the ambassadorship that?

00:04:14
Speaker 6: How that? How did that happen with MLB?

00:04:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, So this was a conversation that Jenn and I had a while ago. This is kind of before I retired, and she had spent a year abroad in college and she it kind of shaped how she thought about the world, and she look back on that experience as being a wonderful experience. I obviously didn't do much traveling other than within the United States playing baseball summers were kind of preoccupied, so I said, sure, whenever it's said and done, we'll talk about it. I retired, I don't know, within a few months she brought it back up. And obviously, you guys know me, that's change is kind of not comforting to me. Right, I like routine. I know where I'm going to get my coffee. I know what time I'm eating lunch. I know I'm what I'm going to.

00:05:01
Speaker 4: Have for lunch.

00:05:02
Speaker 1: So this was way out of my element. But the more I thought about and the more I talked with her, the more I realized that for me personally, this would be a great experience, but more importantly for my kids. Right so, they know southern California, they know San Francisco, they know Philadelphia. Those are the two areas that they know. They've been to Mexico and that's about it. So to broaden their horizons and to have them understand that there is another part of the world. Right, the conversations we were having now we've talked about this before, the conversations we were having now about Europe or the Middle East or Africa would not be happening whatsoever. If they were still in a way because you know, we were all in our kind of our little bubble. So we got out of our bubble to explore and to show them something different. It's not going to last forever, it's but they're at an age where we felt like we could maneuver them a little bit. But at some time we have to kind of settle down somewhere.

00:05:53
Speaker 6: So the MLB thing.

00:05:55
Speaker 1: So the MLB thing is again, I was a little naive, as when you're rubin you know this, Jim, Maybe you would have known this if you've worked a little bit harder at baseball.

00:06:04
Speaker 6: But at the.

00:06:07
Speaker 1: Major league level, everyone does everything for you, right, They handle the travel. You just kind of have to show up and it all kind of works. So I thought to myself, well, sure we'll just go to London and run that place and put the kids in school, no big deal. And soon I realized that I was completely naive and you actually need you need a visa to do so, oh okay, now how are.

00:06:33
Speaker 4: Gonna work this out?

00:06:35
Speaker 1: So talked with Gen a little bit and try I was kind of going through my rolodex of people that I know that maybe have businesses there. We can link up there, and she's like, you're such an I doesn't baseball have an MLB have an office there? Actually they do. So I made a couple of phone calls talk to Jim Small. I'm not sure if you know how Jim's wonderful guy. Kind of told him what we were thinking about doing. We want to come to Europe where we want to use London and as our home base, travel around Europe. But also I mean I'd love to help you out on the ground there and help promote baseball. So we had a few different conversations and it all kind of worked out.

00:07:14
Speaker 6: That's great.

00:07:15
Speaker 3: Where else have you, you know, used London as your base? You mentioned travel Europe? Where else have you and the family you know, kind of visited.

00:07:25
Speaker 1: We've we've checked a lot of boxes, we've been to We've done three or four trips to Italy, different parts of Italy.

00:07:33
Speaker 4: Done.

00:07:34
Speaker 1: Paris is a two hour train ride from from Brandon, so it's super easy. Done that a few different times. Done the coast of France. We've done Portugal, we've done Austria, We've done Germany. We've done Copenhagen, we've done Amsterdam, we've done Istanbul, we've done.

00:07:52
Speaker 6: Well, that's got to be. That's what an experience.

00:07:54
Speaker 2: Have your kids picked up any English slang and used it on you, like when the US them to clean their room and they drop a bollocks on you or something like that. You know, I can if they have your sense, if they have your sense of humor, I can actually see them breaking this out on.

00:08:08
Speaker 1: What so that they don't have an accent, But there are some words. It's not a full sentence that has an accent, but there is an intuition intinition on a few.

00:08:19
Speaker 4: Words that they use.

00:08:20
Speaker 1: They'll use lou occasionally, which is a bathroom. A word that I start I've started using now a lot which I never used before, was sort s O r T. So I'll figure it out. I'll handle it and now I will sort it out.

00:08:38
Speaker 6: Right.

00:08:38
Speaker 4: Interesting do you use that?

00:08:40
Speaker 6: I know, I don't know about that.

00:08:43
Speaker 4: It makes you sound sistic, doesn't it?

00:08:45
Speaker 2: I mean, everything makes you sound more sophistic.

00:08:47
Speaker 6: No doubt.

00:08:48
Speaker 3: How long did it take you to learn how to drive over there?

00:08:52
Speaker 4: We don't drive because of.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: The there's an there tauber, there's there's black caves, which.

00:09:00
Speaker 4: Is kind of the main way to get around there.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: Everywhere is that because you know, on the other side of the road would mesh you up.

00:09:06
Speaker 1: I mean I have driven. We rented a car to go out to the countryside one one week, and it took a couple of minutes to like understand, understand my surroundings and feel comfortable right, because you're on the other side of the car, on the other side of the street. The left turn is the right turn, and right turn is the left turn. Some of the signage is a little bit different. So once you kind of navigate that, the best advice I got was just worst case scenario, just follow the guy in front of you, right, Just follow him, and you're not gonna do anythingright.

00:09:37
Speaker 4: It's like the roundabouts or opposite right.

00:09:39
Speaker 2: It's like that scene in European vacation, you know, big Bend kids, Parlament, just driving around for half an hour. Yeah, you know, do you ever get recognized over there? I'm curious if you're walking through to follower square over here, you chase and.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: You're like, I've been spotted occasionally, but not very often. Go fills, Go fill some, go fills some I get there's a few Phillies fans that recognized me. A few always sunnying Philadelphia fans that have rush not too much.

00:10:03
Speaker 3: You've been to Wrexham?

00:10:04
Speaker 2: I think I saw Jen on an episode, like a real brief cameo.

00:10:07
Speaker 6: Was she up there?

00:10:07
Speaker 2: And if you've been up there to watch some games?

00:10:09
Speaker 1: So yes, I've we've When we first moved there, we took a drive up to Wrexham, Jenn and I and my two boys. We were meeting Rob and Caitlin and their kids were there and we were gonna hang out, play some golf and then go to a game. So get there, have a nice dinner like golf. The next day great, next day is the game. So that night before the game, we're all having a big dinner and I'm starting to like sweat. Right this is August of twenty three, twenty two. Sorry, I'm like sweating and I'm starting to like feel like achy and gross. So I excuse myself from the from the table. Sure enough, get back to my room. I'm shivering.

00:10:51
Speaker 4: I have COVID.

00:10:52
Speaker 1: Oh wow, first, I lasted what two and a half years without As soon as I got to Europe, got it real. So my kids and Jen went to the game. I stayed in the hotel room and that questioned, but recently we went back.

00:11:10
Speaker 4: We went back a few months ago.

00:11:11
Speaker 2: So one of the a story that has popped up while you've been over there, and I'm sure you've you've seen it. Your buddy Kei k Hernandez first talked about it, and then on the Eric Cosmo podcast they talked about this, YATSI old week. Have you heard about this? Is this story true? And how do you remember it? Because this might be a top five all time baseball story for real.

00:11:35
Speaker 1: It's going back in the the story is true. It is true. So basically, again, this is at the end of my career. I have a lot of experience. I'm probably more valuable in the clubhouse than I am on the field at that point. So my I took that role at on, which was excited to me, is try to help this team better right in all aspects, whether it's individual players, whether it's coaching staff talking to players. I just kind of implemented myself in a bunch of different areas. And Puigue was on my list to like help him right because you've seen him play. He's tremendous talent, can do pretty much anything you can would ask him to do on a baseball field, but the mental side wasn't always consistent. And listen, it's hard for me to put myself in his shoes growing up in Cuba, defecting, going to Mexico, being smuggled in, Like, I can't even imagine what that was, what that was like, instant success when he got to the major leagues, which in turn was that there was monetary gains in that. So listen, he was great player, but he wasn't. He wasn't always there on it everyday basis, some days he was engaged, some days he just wasn't. So we had a number of different conversations with him over the course of a few years I was with him, and it seemed to like seemed stick right. He would say the right things, he understood what I was saying. It would kind of work out for a week, and then he would kind of revert back. So this particular instance, he was on second base, and I don't remember if I was hitting or if I was on deck. The long story short, we were blowing out the Brewers late in the game and he goes to steal second or third base and Craig Council's pissed. Whoever the bench is pissed. Dave Roberts is going, oh my god, I can't believe he did that. So I thought, this is a great opportunity because because Josielle is a sensitive guy, right, so he might not look like it, but he's a very sensitive guy.

00:13:40
Speaker 4: So I felt like if.

00:13:41
Speaker 1: He if someone would be hurt or like uncomfortable because of actions that he did, he might take the heart a little bit more. So I looked at it as a perfect opportunity to try to teach him a lesson. So anyways, I went to home plate and this was I want to say it was the next I don't know what happened, but if it was the next inning or the next it was the next batter. But essentially, I I think it was the next inner. Go to the catcher who I don't remember who was, Hey, will you mind walking out to your picture to hit me? And he looks at me like, excuse me, I'm not I don't understand. He's like, listen, I can explain now. Just I want I want you to hit me. Please just be and me. No big deal, I'll take my base. Just let's let's handle this. It's like no pop, no Poppy, I'm not gonna happen, dude, Come on, like, that's that's.

00:14:37
Speaker 6: Let's get it. Yeah, let's get He thought you're probably kidding.

00:14:40
Speaker 1: No, well maybe the first time of the next time. There's no way he thought I was kidding after that, but sure he didn't do it. He didn't he I think he went out to talk to him. But waiting for the first pitch is like ten feet outside. It was so so awkward. So I was a little disappointed that that happened. And I didn't tell anybody that story. And Catcher must have told somebody someone, Yeah, yeah, or the umpire. You got hit two hundred and four times in your career. I think it's I looked this up last night. I think it's like ninth all time in the record books.

00:15:14
Speaker 6: And you never wore one of those guards. Either you never wore a guard, you never wor a hand.

00:15:18
Speaker 2: Or you get Andy mccallll from the Athletic asked you about this once as you approached two hundred, and he said, do you mind getting hit? You said, do I like it? I mean, I don't dislike it getting hit by a pitch. That's a mentality right there. Can you explain that mentality man's weird. Are you crazy?

00:15:38
Speaker 6: Uh?

00:15:39
Speaker 4: Crazy is the right word. I mean it was. It was an advantage to be on base, right, I mean think about it.

00:15:44
Speaker 1: So, growing up in southern California, we played with the ball a lot, and the rules in whiffle ball was you can either we had one base, there was a tree that we ran to and either you throw the ball to the guy that's holding first base or you get hit with the with the ball with the ball right, And we played with some guys that took really no mercy and you had the ability to call mercy and you were automatically out. And that was something that that we all kind of did not fround it up. We wanted to be tough, so it probably started back then, to be honest with you, where we would try to dodge it as much as we could, but we didn't care. Obviously whoof of ball doesn't hurt as much as a baseball. But I looked at it as a positive for the team and and in turn, like selfishly positive for yourself because you're you're on base. There's plenty of times where you're hit two count where you're you're probably not in a great position to be successful, and they hang out a little slider and just instead of getting out of the way, just clips your arm. No big deal, take for space. And now Ryan Howard's up and you guys know what he can do.

00:16:46
Speaker 3: And then there was just right outside here. I still remember it like it was yesterday. The day you got your hand or your wrists broken against the Nationals? Was that seven seven? You guys in the thick of it and you were in the thick of the MVP hunt. Was that one that still resonates with you? And did it tick you off of the time because of everything that was at stake?

00:17:11
Speaker 1: Of course, of course, because I knew I got hit, it hurt. It was one that like didn't go away. I could feel it. I kept playing every time I threw it hurt and I could feel the bones I clicking. Yeah, so yeah, obviously I was. I was not a happy camper at that point. We were we were rolling, we were playing well, I was playing. I felt like I was playing the best I've ever played at that at that point, and I knew this was going to hold me back for at least a month.

00:17:39
Speaker 4: So yeah, I was pissed for sure.

00:17:41
Speaker 5: So you never talk about yourself ever, ever, ever, and you made it a point through your whole career. I just wanted to know, aside from winning the World Series here and that fantastic moment, what were the moments that gave you the most satisfaction being here in Philadelphia if you look back and like really to take a deep dive and say, Okay, this was really really awesome for me.

00:18:10
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: I mean there's probably a few scenarios. So one relates to to the World Series. We won the World Series, obviously amazing, but there's a lot of trickle down effects from from winning a World Series from a fans perspective, from players perspective, also like clubhouse personnel. So I remember when the World Series, you get a bonus for the World Series. I don't remember what it was at the time, but it was a nice chunk of change. And we as a team. You guys know this, but I don't know if the casual fan it does that. You know, we have the ability as a team to divvy out shares per whoever whoever you want. You can everyone on the on the rosters obviously obviously in it the coaching staff, and then it trickles down to the clubhouse. People that are the supportive staff, the people that are there every single day in the in the trench trenches with you. They're not out on the field, but they're behind the scenes. So we have an opportunity to vote and do the out share, so a full share. I don't remember what it was, but it was a few hundred thousand dollars, which is a lot of money. So I remember having a conversation with one of the staff members. I'm not going to say his name, but essentially he got me. After the fact, he cleared it went into his bank account, and he was really emotional, and he had a bunch.

00:19:26
Speaker 4: Of student debt that he was able to pay off.

00:19:28
Speaker 1: I think he actually was able to purchase his first house, which to me, that's like it still gives me like goosebumps thinking about it. That not many people think about that, but that drastically changed his life, just like that.

00:19:44
Speaker 2: I remember Phil Sheridan tells his story all the time. When did night you got traded to the Dodgers. I don't know how late you stayed after the game, but you made a point to sign maybe twenty five bats, and I think you might have personalized each one to everybody in the clubhouse, from Frank and Phil and Daniel Rourke to the boys. Right, yeah, that's important stuff for you to do.

00:20:07
Speaker 1: It was because, like I said before, these guys are they're in it, right, They're They're not the stars of the show.

00:20:12
Speaker 6: They're not.

00:20:13
Speaker 1: They don't get much recognition at all, but they are part of our success. They make our lives easier. They they handle whatever we ask them to handle, they handle it. And and the course of the full season, you're traveling all the time, you have families, you have kids, you don't feel great every single day. So these guys are there, and they're they're there before any player is there, and they're they're way longer than any after leaves. So they're grinding it and they deserve they deserve attention. So yeah, So I had a ton of bats that we're getting not much.

00:20:52
Speaker 4: Use, so it wasn't hitting the ball very hard. So I kind of grabbed them all.

00:20:57
Speaker 1: I grabbed them all and addressed them to a bunch of I don't remember exactly who it was, but it was quite a few signatures and some some thankful, thankful saints.

00:21:10
Speaker 3: I remember. I think when you came back, I was talking to Scott Sheridan, the athletic trainer, and you spent a lot of time with him. But in this vein, in that vein, how about how you know that those relationships build. They're there for you, guys, and they help you. He once gave you a great compliment. He said, Chase never left the athletic training room without saying thank you.

00:21:34
Speaker 1: Looka it's it's so easy to to do, right, It so easy to say thank you because they're there. They're there for us, right and would no matter what. Everyone's got their own stick, and they have their different ways of getting ready for a game. And some guys are need more attention than others, but they always us.

00:21:52
Speaker 3: There was that night kind of surreal, the night you were traded, because you were you were. I remember you were leaning on the railing and there was nothing a fit show. We were bugging the heck out. We were from what's going on. He was not taking phone calls, he was ignoring us, And yeah, and then you know, the word is kind of out there, but it's not official. And then I actually remember you walking out. You shook the picture's hand and after I think you guys wanted walking back to the dugout steps and you gave the crowd a little wave, and I'm like, this thing is done.

00:22:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna have to go back time.

00:22:29
Speaker 6: And I don't remember I was.

00:22:30
Speaker 5: I don't remember everything about it, but we had had some discussions and we had talked to obviously you had no trade clause and that other business.

00:22:37
Speaker 1: And yeah, it was a whirlwind of a few months, to be honest with you, Yeah it was.

00:22:45
Speaker 4: It was trying to go back. So I remember I got off to a.

00:22:49
Speaker 1: Really terrible start, one that I couldn't even fathom. And the team was obviously not playing as well as it had been in previous years, and it was kind of trending trending down, and you know, as a as a player, you feel like I'm gonna snap out at any minute, No big deal. Everyone's gonna fill in and we're gonna we're gonna figure this out. As a player, you don't see the bigger picture right now that I'm out of the game, you can kind of oversee and go, okay, you kind of see the landscape and you can see kind of guess how it's going to trend. So I did never wanted to leave Philadelphia.

00:23:29
Speaker 6: No, and he did. He made that very clear when we had discussions.

00:23:32
Speaker 5: It's one something that that Chase never really wanted to do, and I frankly did not think it was the greatest thing either, But we thought for us at the time, one was be the right thing for us, and two being the right thing for him because I think it would give him an opportunity to go to a place where he would have a chance to win again and with somebody and Andrew Freeman who covet into him in a way that was really prety special. And that was something that I sort of had to convince if I remember right, convince you of and what he meant, what he was about that kind of stuff, because that was important to you. It was important because.

00:24:10
Speaker 6: Of the culture of the team that you've been blaming.

00:24:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And yeah, going back, I didn't want to I never want to leave. We had a few different discussions. Remember John was in a few different discussions. And listen, now, I completely understand the landscape at the time, I did not understand it as well as I do now. Trending differently, some of these younger guys have to play this old older guy. That's that's that's clearly obviously trending down in his career, like, let's let's get these younger guys in there, get the old dude out of here, get him to a place where he can I'm I'm not saying I'm get him to a place where he has a chance to win, because that's ultimately at that point, that's that's what you're You're you're working out an off season for grinding for you know, being away from your Family're there for me at least was to another champ and it.

00:25:00
Speaker 3: Was your hometown team. It was probably the one team you would have said yes to.

00:25:04
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, so there was I don't know if Rubens ever said, but there were a few different I think there were few opportunities to go other places, and because I had a trade clause, I said no, which made Ruben's life probably a lot harder at that time. I didn't care, Listen, I'm not going there just because you want to get just because you want to I don't know what the right term. Rebuild kind of go in a different direction. I was going to be a little selfish in that state where I don't want to go to X, Y and Z, even though they want me, I don't necessarily want them.

00:25:35
Speaker 4: So I the.

00:25:37
Speaker 1: More I thought about, the more I talked to my agent, the more I talk to my wife, It's like, all right, the pieces are starting to come to place into place a little bit. If I'm going to leave Philadelphia, the only place I want to go it would be the Dodgers. One because I grew up as a Dodgers fan. Two they had a really good team, so I felt like I had a good ability of, like, like scouting the teams going on, are these teams you still have sixty games to play or forty games to play? These teams, in my mind playing against them, looking at the roster, these teams have the best chance of not only getting to the postseason, but having success in the postseason, and I identify the Dodgers as one of those teams. I mean, it kind of I don't know what happened. I think Howie Kendrick maybe blew out and immediately they needed a second. I don't think they were in the picture whatsoever, and tell how he.

00:26:26
Speaker 6: Got hurt.

00:26:28
Speaker 1: So I mean, it all kind of worked out. But yeah, it was a sad day I was. I mean, once I got to the Dodgers It kind of reinvigorated me a little bit. Now you're in a playoff atmosphere, you're around players that you don't really know, but even though you've played against them, which was actually fun.

00:26:47
Speaker 5: I thought a lot about this, and one of the things that I had seen in my career while I was playing is Darren Dalton going to the Marlins, and I felt like that was sort of a very similar if you looked at the the landscape.

00:27:01
Speaker 6: Of what was going on, Dutch went over to the Marlins. He was towards the end of his career. Starting towards the end of his.

00:27:07
Speaker 5: Career, he got an opportunity to go play in a place where they were going to win, where he could have impact. And I think that's exactly what ended up happening with Chase get At some point, whether it was going to be physical or part of the clubhouse, or whatever the case may be, he was going to be able to.

00:27:22
Speaker 6: Impact that team in a way that was going to be pretty positive.

00:27:25
Speaker 2: Going back to the beginning of your career, somebody reminded me of this the other day when you got called up. You were on a bus going to Ottawa. Do you remember this?

00:27:34
Speaker 6: Uh?

00:27:34
Speaker 4: Usually remember dropped I think I got dropped off somewhere.

00:27:37
Speaker 2: You got dropped off at a gas station slash subway.

00:27:39
Speaker 4: Fort that sounds about right. Yes, you don't remember this.

00:27:43
Speaker 1: Pieces are coming to Yes, you're on a bus, Mark bomguard got a call.

00:27:48
Speaker 4: I don't remember who picked me up?

00:27:49
Speaker 3: Picked up a five dollars.

00:27:51
Speaker 1: Swane picked me up. I don't remember. Yes, that that is what happened. Correct, Thanks for bringing that back to the ballpark. Someone came and picked me up.

00:28:00
Speaker 2: Dropped them off at a gas station because they had to get the Autawa. So they said, Chase, congratulations going in the big leagues. We're gonna drop you off this gas station slash subway. And you waited there for somebody a clubby from Scranton to pick you up.

00:28:09
Speaker 4: And I guess drive you to feel That's exactly what happened.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: And this is a dumb question. But did you have a I mean I guess cell phones were around then, right, I mean I guess I had one.

00:28:17
Speaker 4: So you can you call your parents or you call great question?

00:28:22
Speaker 1: Yeah there thousand and three, So yeah, there was definitely a cell phones.

00:28:25
Speaker 4: Okay, so I must have.

00:28:27
Speaker 1: I don't remember who I called, but I would imagine like, actually, maybe I didn't call anybody. I don't know, but I probably called somebody. That's but yes, now I remember getting off the bus called your agent Joel maybe maybe.

00:28:41
Speaker 2: And then Charlie, he tweeted this out. Charlie tweeted this out a few years ago. In an admiring way, he says, he remembers, I think when you got sent down the famous story, as you told me, I guess you guys don't want to win? Is that true?

00:28:56
Speaker 6: Closet?

00:28:57
Speaker 2: That's but that's you know, even your manager. He says it in a very very loving, admiring way.

00:29:01
Speaker 6: Charlie, you know you love them.

00:29:03
Speaker 5: When a guy gets sent down, you want that guy to have a little you know, I have the red ass, a little piss and vinegar.

00:29:10
Speaker 6: You know, how do these stories come out taken?

00:29:17
Speaker 1: That also is a true story, Listen, I felt I felt at that point in time. Let's see what I'm trying to remember how it all went down. Two thousand and three, I got called up. I broke camp with the major league team because Jason Michaels had a bad hamstring. But knowing that I was only going to be around for a while, and I don't know if it was that year or if it was two thousand. It must have been that year, unless it was two thousand and four, do you remember.

00:29:50
Speaker 2: Well, See, I always thought I thought it was something for opening day. They had basically cleared the way for you to come back and be the opening day second basement, and they started Polly at second basis.

00:30:00
Speaker 6: That's what it was.

00:30:00
Speaker 4: That's exactly it was.

00:30:01
Speaker 2: So it was more you weren't the starting lineup on opening day after they base I mean ed Wade basically said in the paper, Chase Ali is going to be our opening day second basement, and then opening day comes around and you're.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: On the bench.

00:30:14
Speaker 1: No, I got sent down. I was sent down the exact facts of when and why I didn't make the team or a little blurry, but yes, I was in there, and I was not happy.

00:30:25
Speaker 4: I felt like I was one of the best twenty five guys.

00:30:32
Speaker 6: Probably true.

00:30:32
Speaker 4: It was just probabletely true.

00:30:33
Speaker 6: It was.

00:30:34
Speaker 1: It was completely true, and I felt like I deserved to make the team. I listened looking back, and I get it. I wasn't going to play every single day. It could slow my progression go to triple A play.

00:30:45
Speaker 6: I get it.

00:30:45
Speaker 1: I would tell some young kids now the same thing. But at the moment, I felt like I deserved playing the big leagues. I felt like my talent was there, and I worked my ass off to get to that point. And yeah, basically said it.

00:31:01
Speaker 6: You guys tell me, I guess you guys don't want to win.

00:31:03
Speaker 4: Word there might have been a bad word.

00:31:05
Speaker 6: Yeah, well yeah, yeah, that's okay.

00:31:08
Speaker 3: Speaking of bad words, how often does someone out of the blue come up to you all the time.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: All the time?

00:31:14
Speaker 3: Like where.

00:31:17
Speaker 4: Here? Obviously, I mean l a London?

00:31:22
Speaker 3: Where in London did it happen?

00:31:25
Speaker 1: Where was I? I was in a like a clothing.

00:31:29
Speaker 4: Store, was in a clothing store.

00:31:32
Speaker 1: And once another time I was walking down the street I was in Where was I? I was in Switzerland? We were on a ski trip. That's awesome, but mainly but mainly, Yeah, what do you do?

00:31:47
Speaker 3: You just go?

00:31:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, you acknowledge it for sure? Yeah.

00:31:51
Speaker 6: So was that something that was sort of planned? Is it something you just the emotion just hit you?

00:31:56
Speaker 5: Was it the the the was it the moment, the beer, was all.

00:32:02
Speaker 1: The all the about all I did? It definitely was not planned.

00:32:06
Speaker 6: We did.

00:32:06
Speaker 1: I don't even think we knew that we were speaking, right, So you guys know me, I'm not. I don't love a microphone, even though it looked like I did at that moment. So yeah, I didn't know what I was gonna say. I knew that I had a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, and that just buzz throughout the whole city. In the stadium was was electric, right, So I kind of just said what I was, what I was feeling, And I feel like it resonated with most people.

00:32:31
Speaker 6: I think it did every day. I resonated pretty much with ninety of the people.

00:32:36
Speaker 3: So right in the Hall of Fame club, at the stadium, here at the ballpark, is that picture of the moment you did it. And to look at all the reactions on the faces like Jason Worreth Hammal's going nuts and going outs, and then you can tell everybody's personality from that picture. Talk about a picture worth a thousand words, that's worth ten thousand.

00:32:57
Speaker 2: Work Like Da Vinci's Last Supper. You like to look at each character in the background.

00:33:01
Speaker 3: It is so great. It never every time I look at it, I laugh.

00:33:05
Speaker 6: That awesome.

00:33:06
Speaker 5: Hey, tell us a little bit about your relationship with Charlie Manuel and how special it was and.

00:33:12
Speaker 6: Is yeah, it still is.

00:33:17
Speaker 1: He I mean, I've said this bazillion times, but he really like got in tune with his players, and you hear him talk and you hear him fumble around sentences and like mix up words at times. But like he's a smart dude, and you guys have been around him quite a bit. He doesn't always come off that way, but like in the clubhouse, Manna man, he kind of understands the landscape of what's going on. He has his gut feeling is right quite a bit, and he just he allowed us to do what we wanted. But he's still kind of oversaw it when and if he ever since that it was getting, you know, a little awry. He would come to either me or go to Jimmy, or he would go to some guys that had a voice on the team and just you know, give his opinion. He would call me in the office all the time. And now looking back on it, I had no idea what he was doing, and maybe he wasn't doing this, but I would be struggling, right, So he would call me in the office, how you doing, asked me if I wanted a day off. It was always a no, And for a while I was able to like talk myself out of days off. But in that conversation the days off, we would start talking about hitting, and he would start talking about I don't know this will use Jimmy for example. You know when Jimmy's doing going well, like his hands are here, and his balance is this, and his timing is great, and like we go in and I would like talk to him about it. Yeah, I agree or disagree, and we'd have this full hitting conversation. And then we probably did that in a handful of times over the years. And it was looking back, and it was always when I was struggling and I came out of it thinking about the conversation I just had Jimmy or Shane or Ryan, and now I put it on myself and I made adjustments and like it would snap me out of it, which would.

00:35:08
Speaker 6: Sly like a fox man.

00:35:12
Speaker 3: So we talked about the day you were traded. Sad day. You said, yeah, yeah, what about the day this guy But Charlie go and be honest.

00:35:21
Speaker 5: Oh, I'll preempt this a little bit.

00:35:28
Speaker 6: He was displeased with me, really, but anyway, go ahead.

00:35:36
Speaker 1: So again as a as a as a player, you know, you know what you know? Right, There's plenty of stuff that we're completely unaware of above our heads and what's going on in the communication. So I can't speak on any of that other than we love Charlie. We felt like Charlie was the right person to lead us. But looking back, I understand from if trying to change things right, the younger players involved changed the dynamic like slowly picked pluck pieces out and implement new pieces. I understand stuff. Change is sometimes a good thing, But like my loyalty to Charlie will we'll be forever. And I felt like he was the best for us and probably personally the best for me, right because I admired him so much, and I felt like we could have any conversation on any day about any subject and nothing it didn't have to do with baseball. And he was he was always there, willing to work and willing to talk. And sometimes I would come out a little confused after the conversation that we had, but like five minutes later it would all kind of sync up. So yeah, I don't know, I don't remember if we had a conversation.

00:36:49
Speaker 5: I think you came up to me afterwards, and said something like thanks for EF and let me know, give me a head heads up or something like that.

00:36:55
Speaker 6: And you were probably right.

00:36:58
Speaker 5: I mean, had I just given the dynamic of what he meant to you guys, and and the relationship that you had I and the relationship that I felt always had with you, I probably should have. Things were happening so fast for me. You always you never make the right decisions all the time, and you don't prepare yourself perfectly all the time.

00:37:19
Speaker 6: But you're probably right.

00:37:21
Speaker 5: I probably should have given you and a couple other guys a little bit of a heads up, a little sneaky no, no, I get it.

00:37:28
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, But then now I think about it, maybe you know, like you're the general manager. You can do whatever you want. And it's it's a hard one because once you get input from the players, the input you get from the players, the players kind of expect.

00:37:44
Speaker 6: The change to be made.

00:37:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that's a that's a tougher. It is a tough one. So you want to keep a closer relationship, but you still have to there still has to be a armless length linked relationship, in my opinion, from you.

00:37:56
Speaker 6: Probably learned that from spends a little time in the.

00:37:58
Speaker 1: Front officer one. I mean I was there to help in any different different way ways. But yeah, he does a good job of like being around. But like you can't get you can't be best friends, really good friends. But if once you become best friends, like your opinion starts to change and like the conversation starts to change.

00:38:19
Speaker 5: I do want to say one thing about we ended up signing you to like an eight year deal or something I think it was before before rather than going through all the arbitration stuff, he ended up doing that deal. And I have to say he is the only player and family because he and Jen just as a thank you, sent me because I did a lot of negotiation. I mean not all of it, but I did a lot of negotiation. A part of it that he actually sent me a bottle of champagne with a couple of glasses.

00:38:51
Speaker 6: That was very classy. That's the only player I've.

00:38:53
Speaker 5: Ever really done that, and I've given out a lot of money over the years.

00:38:58
Speaker 2: Jeez, I got one last question for you. You were famous for spending hours and hours and hours before the game and after game watching video. Is there one particular moment where that stands out of man, I watch video like for three hours before the game, looking for maybe a picture tipping his pitches, or a picture's move or something that it played off in a big game that really stands out or not.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a ton of times that it paid off for me. There's so many that I can't it's hard to like identify one particular instance. But there is a time where this was I don't know, thirteen fourteen, thirteen fourteen.

00:39:37
Speaker 4: I remember Pete Orr.

00:39:38
Speaker 1: Of course, great, great dude. Good could play a little bit. Didn't get a ton of ton of time, but it was filling in. And I remember I wasn't playing one day. I don't know if I was hurt or if I just wasn't playing. And I'm watching my video and we were facing Remember Josh Johnson with Marlins when he was yeah, when he was like dealing, Yeah, it was really tough. Peter was playing and a little nervous. I identify all this stuff on Josh Johnson, and it wasn't great information, but it was like I would take it to the grave. Was listen and two counts. He's not going to throw you a strike one hundred percent of the time. It's going to be a ball, and ninety five percent of time that one to two pitch is also going to be a ball. So Pete, come in here. If you get oh two, just take the next two pitches. And he's like, come on. I'm like, well, I mean, you guys are hitting twenty two and two and one and two, so and once you get to two two, the guys are hitting one to eighty or whatever. It was a dramatic jump. He's like, all right, so sure enough.

00:40:50
Speaker 4: Actually he was pinch hitting.

00:40:51
Speaker 6: That's what it was.

00:40:52
Speaker 1: He was pinch hitting. Goes up, sure enough, bull ball full ball O two. He kind of looks at me. I give him like a shrug. Just statue takes ball one, one two, statue takes again, ball two. So now two to two count and then next pitch you got to hit, and it scored a run. He was so happy, and I was so happy, right, I was one. I was happy to success two. I was happy that he didn't throw a strike oh two one two. So that's one that I remember.

00:41:23
Speaker 6: Well, that's pretty funny.

00:41:24
Speaker 3: That's great. You know, we're watching a great Phillies team here twenty four. I mean, they really racking up the wins and a lot of comparisons to the twenty eleven team at won one hundred and two games. On the subject of twenty eleven, does it still hurt a little bit? I know it hurts him a lot. Does it hurt for you? And maybe beyond that you after you answer that part, do you see any similarities.

00:41:55
Speaker 1: To twenty eleven meeting we lost the Cardinals in the first round.

00:41:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, after winning one hundred and two and have you know, and having that great pitching staff, of course it stings.

00:42:05
Speaker 1: But now that you just kind of see how how baseball it is. Right in the moment, we're the best team and we should therefore we should win the World Series, and that's not the case. I don't know what the what the percentages of the team with the best record actually win in the World Series. I imagine it's not that high. I think I'm a big believer in momentum, right, So, I think we saw that a few years ago with the Phillies kind of didn't play that well first half of the years, kind of turning on the second half and like really caught fire in September and went into the postseason super hot, and they ended up getting to the World Series. So that was kind of the same with the with the Cardinals. They I don't know how many games they won in September, but it seemed like that every single Yeah, and we had an opportunity if we really wanted to, looking back on it, of like.

00:42:53
Speaker 4: Not allowing them in the.

00:42:54
Speaker 1: Playoff playoffs if we had lost a few games.

00:42:57
Speaker 5: A lot of people are still upset about Yeah, yeah, having won all those games in Atlantas.

00:43:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, right, So anyways, yeah, super disappointing. But they had a good team. They had a great team. But yeah, I mean I thought that team was it was pretty strong, really strong. That pitching staff was fantastic in this team. This team is Listen, these guys have baseball players, right, So you have a mix of younger guys and guys with a lot with some seasons under their belt. But there's no there's no guy that's like on his last leg.

00:43:33
Speaker 6: Right.

00:43:33
Speaker 1: These guys are all kind of coming into their prime or in the middle of their prime and their careers. And so that resembles what we were dealing with back in two thousand and seven, six, seven, eight nine. We were kind of coming in together in our in our prime and these guys seems like they really like each other and and that goes a long way saying with our guys, we we enjoyed spending time with each other away from the ballpark, hanging out, having dinner, having a couple couple of drinks, you know, having a talking, a little trash that kept us tight. And I and I see that same aspect in these guys.

00:44:10
Speaker 5: And did you think that Edon Rowan had a big part of that when you when he came over.

00:44:14
Speaker 6: Was he a big part of that?

00:44:15
Speaker 5: Or is there other guys that are sort of Galvanie helped galvanize the team. I remember because Aaron had come over from Chicago and he had won a World Series, and I know he was you know, he has a big voice in the clubhouse. I just didn't know whether he was one of those guys that sort of pushed that forward. I know Pat was part of it, you and some other guys, but was he part of that as well?

00:44:36
Speaker 6: Yeah? He was.

00:44:37
Speaker 1: He was, Like you said, he had a he had a big voice. He brought over his experience from from the White Sox. It was a lot of team gatherings. We didn't have as many team gatherings prior to his him coming over. But yeah, Pat, Pat had had a great voice, calm and soothing voice, kind of could see the big picture at a young age for the most part. And Aaron was loud and fun and he he played as hard as I've ever seen anybody play. He would give it us all. He was always squeezing that bat so hard, right know how he hit like that. But he was a really good player and really strong for for our clubhouse we had. We had a number of guys that were just positive influence in our clubhouse.

00:45:22
Speaker 4: I mean.

00:45:23
Speaker 1: I had a chance to play with Kenny Lofton early in my career, late in his career, and to see him work and he was I don't know how old he was, but he was late late thirties. Now, looking back on that, I have more appreciation of how he played at that at that age. I mean, Brent Myers was a crazy wacko but great teammate, amazing teammate, would do anything for you, and he there was he would love to make jokes about people. We would throw it right back at him and he could take it, which which you had to you had to do in our clubhouse. You had to be able to take a joke.

00:45:59
Speaker 6: I don't know.

00:45:59
Speaker 1: That's I think we got along really well and obviously we had a lot of talent to go with that.

00:46:04
Speaker 3: That's awesome. Remember the day Brett Myers ranked on your shirt, Todd.

00:46:08
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, it was a fashion mobile.

00:46:13
Speaker 2: No, I'm not a fashion he had.

00:46:14
Speaker 3: Todd had this shirt on and in spring training had this shirt on. It was sort of like terry cloth and had these horizontal brown and yellow and white stripes. It was awful. And uh, I said to Myers, I go slucky shirt man. He it was like a soft toss and he whacked it over the net and he says, Lucky, would you get that shirt a yard style?

00:46:37
Speaker 2: He just crushed me right in front of everybody in the middle of the clubhouse.

00:46:40
Speaker 4: That's all right.

00:46:40
Speaker 2: You could give it back to them, though, You're right though, with Brett, you could give it back given us as reporters. Yeah, you can give it back to.

00:46:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you could see to your credit and this is not blowing smoke, but to your guys' credit, we enjoyed. We did enjoy everyone, every reporter because if we felt like there was something that were looking for a headline, looking to cause a little drama, and you too definitely were not in that case.

00:47:02
Speaker 4: We you know, you guys know this, but we.

00:47:04
Speaker 1: Felt comfortable talking to to both of you about any subject on the record, off the record. We didn't have to fear that you were going to run and.

00:47:13
Speaker 6: Until he fired, until he gets you fired. Yeah, did he get you fired? Well?

00:47:18
Speaker 1: So I remember this one, and I don't know if you remember this, Rubin. I remember a few times, like I don't know if it was fourteen or fifteen, it was we would pass each other in the hallway and you would kind of just say, uh, where do.

00:47:31
Speaker 4: You want to be traded to?

00:47:32
Speaker 1: Remember I probably first it was like I ignored it.

00:47:39
Speaker 4: Next time, where do you want to be traded to?

00:47:41
Speaker 1: Come on, Rubin? Next time, where do you want to be traded to?

00:47:44
Speaker 6: Rubin?

00:47:45
Speaker 4: If you have to trade me, you're gonna get fired. Remember that?

00:47:49
Speaker 6: Yes, I do. And I knew I was going to get fired, so he said, So it wasn't me.

00:47:57
Speaker 5: No, No, I've dug my own, but I listen, I don't know.

00:48:03
Speaker 6: I didn't.

00:48:04
Speaker 5: Here was a tough thing for me. I didn't want to be the guy that would that did two things. One fired Charlie Manuel and two traded Chase Utley and I did quite a perfect that that's wearing a black hat.

00:48:15
Speaker 1: Man, and I don't I don't envy the position because we had so much success.

00:48:20
Speaker 4: And then eventually that changes.

00:48:22
Speaker 3: And remember the time you wanted to kill me though, when your batting practice bat broke after three years.

00:48:28
Speaker 4: I wanted to kill you. Yeah, why did I want to kill.

00:48:30
Speaker 6: Did you take it out there and hit with it?

00:48:31
Speaker 3: Remember the story?

00:48:32
Speaker 4: Did you break it?

00:48:33
Speaker 1: No?

00:48:34
Speaker 3: But you were upset, I wrote. I wrote a story about it.

00:48:39
Speaker 6: I brought it.

00:48:40
Speaker 3: You used the same batting practice bat for like three years. It was caked with pine tar and the sweet spot where the paint was all worn off it. So you agreed to talk to me about how good it felt. It cut you in the right rhythm for the game. He loved this bat three years. And then so I write this story. You even post for a picture with it. I write this story, and it's going to go in the Sunday paper. You guys leave for San Francisco on Friday. I'm not on the trip. Tood's on the trip. I say, you have to watch every swing he takes in batting practice. Make sure this bat survives at least through Sunday Friday night game. He breaks the bat in the batting cage, smashes it on the batting cage, and he walks by you. What did he say?

00:49:18
Speaker 2: He said, tell Jim thanks a lot.

00:49:21
Speaker 3: I thought he said something that said some words.

00:49:26
Speaker 4: That was great.

00:49:26
Speaker 2: I remember that ruined my story called Jim like, holy shit, Chase just broke that.

00:49:32
Speaker 3: I thought you were kidding me. Yeah, that was great.

00:49:35
Speaker 4: I remember that.

00:49:36
Speaker 1: I do in San Francisco, Yes, and it was I think I went in like a big one.

00:49:41
Speaker 3: You did, and you were staring daggers at me. For two weeks. You wouldn't talk to me, and finally one day I sensed you were in an okay mood and I walked up. He had said, you really don't think I had anything to do with this to you? And you're like, no, I'm just giving you some crap.

00:49:56
Speaker 6: Well that's very superstitious as players.

00:49:59
Speaker 4: Very great.

00:50:00
Speaker 2: Well, Chase, thanks so much man the time. Yeah, I mean, unless you want to keep rolling, we could do another hour. I wrote down a bunch of great stories. If i'd I'd love to ask you.

00:50:08
Speaker 3: About ask him one more.

00:50:09
Speaker 6: No, No, I'm good. I'm good.

00:50:11
Speaker 5: I know we really appreciate it and also so much we also appreciate you as a player, but you as a person and what you meant to this organization and to this city and uh, and I know how much these two guys respected you as well and just thrilled to be able to sit down with you.

00:50:31
Speaker 1: Asked me to do this, and yeah, I definitely wouldn't do it for most most people. Yes, you guys, are you guys are on the top of my list.

00:50:37
Speaker 2: Now if you want to sign off with a Cockney accent, say London series will be a jolly good time. Now is the time to do.

00:50:42
Speaker 4: Are you guys coming, I'll be there. Gym's not coming?

00:50:45
Speaker 3: Why I have I'm not I'm on home confinement.

00:50:50
Speaker 1: Are you saying ankle would go off at the airport.

00:50:55
Speaker 6: Anyway?

00:50:56
Speaker 1: Thanks Chase to represent Yeah, guys, thanks for having me and uh all the fans listening and come to London.

00:51:01
Speaker 4: It's gonna be great. That was awesome.

00:51:05
Speaker 2: Thank you again to Chase Sutley for his time. We had a blast. Literally could have sat down with him for another couple hours, but you gotta let the guy go. At some point maybe he will be back with us down the road. We hope that you will be back with us later this week when Ruben, Jim and I talk more Phillies. Thanks again to Shy Vintage Sports who sponsored this episode. Remember Center City, Wayne Westchester, tell them the Philly Shows sent you for fifteen percent off your next purchase. Thanks everybody, This is the Philly Show. If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Philly Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us a review, tell a friend. Catch Ruben, Jim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourist. New episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on philliesmation dot com. Get more of Reuben's analysis during before and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Rejim at the Allcity Network at allphl y dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the philliesb Newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network