Batting Crown
Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley is currently leading the National League in batting average with 18 games to play. (He'd wouldn't crack the top three in the American League.) If he wins the NL batting title, he'd be the first Phillies player to claim the title since...
Richie Ashburn in 1958!
Wow, that's a really long time. But to put that in a bit of perspective, the Phillies aren't the only club to claim such a drought.
For example, that's almost as long a stretch as the LA Dodgers who last had a batting champion in Tommy Davis 1962 and 1963. And it's only slightly better than the Cleveland Indians who last won bragging rights with Bobby Avila in 1954. Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics haven't fielded batting champ since they moved out of Philadelphia in 1954. Their last title-holder was a first baseman Ferris Fain who won it in consecutive seasons in 1951 and 1952.
And with all the great hitters on the New York Mets and Houston Astros over the years, neither team have ever had a player claim the title while the Expos had two (Al Oliver and Tim Raines).
Richie Ashburn turned out to be a Philadelphia icon and had a statue erected in his memory outside the new ballpark. Will Chase Utley claim a similar legacy?
1 comment:
Even if Utley doesn't ever win a batting title, I think he's well on his way to becoming one of the most popular Phillies of all-time. This kid is Pete Rose, only with speed and power -- and minus the bad behavior. He's the kind of gritty player Philadelphians love to root for. Look around the stands at Citizens Bank Park and you'll see more people wearing his jersey (or the t-shirt equivalent of it) than anyone else's.
The only question is: Will he finish his career a Phillie? If he does (or at least as long as he doesn't spend a bunch of seasons with say, the Mets) they may have to find room to carve out an "Utley Alley" somewhere.
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