Jan. 23. In the meantime, MLB Network provided another opportunity to weigh how Utley stacks up against the greats at his position.
The league-owned station is continuing its countdown of the top nine players at each position since 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. The complete list of second basemen dropped on Monday, and Utley found himself fifth.
Not that the list is intended to be a complete verdict on Hall of Fame merit, but the four names above Utley are all enshrined in Cooperstown — and all four below him aren’t.
Of course, Utley wouldn’t be quite so high if the list encompassed all of MLB history — Rogers Hornsby, Nap Lajoie and Eddie Collins are a few who would assuredly bump him down — but even taking that into account, his inclusion toward the top of the list is noteworthy. The Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out in November that among Utley and the 20 second basemen already in the Hall, Utley’s career 64.5 WAR ranks 10th.
That has Utley already at least in the conversation, and it doesn’t account for his greatest selling point: his 2005-2010 peak, which is surely among the leading reasons for his placement so high on MLB Network’s list.
As of Tuesday, 15 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America had publicly released their ballots, tracked by Ryan Thibodaux on X (formerly Twitter). Utley had received nine of their votes. Of course, 60% of a sample that small doesn’t mean much one way or another for Utley’s chances at 75%, but it perhaps suggests a tight race for one of the greatest lefty sluggers in franchise history.
In other Phillies-related Prime 9 news, MLB Network revealed its full list of the top third basemen since 1947 on Tuesday. The top spot should be no surprise.
