Last year Chase Utley, his wife Jennifer and their two sons, Ben and Max, moved to London as the six-time All-Star was hired to become an MLB ambassador to Europe.
It marked a significant change for Utley, who was born in Pasadena and starred at UCLA before being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. The fierce competitor finished his career by playing for his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers.
One of Utley’s early duties last November as an MLB ambassador was to deliver home plate and promote the forthcoming 2023 London Series. Utley then was on hand at London Stadium over the weekend as the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs became the latest teams to play on an international stage.
MLB’s first London Series was held in 2019, between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
During an interview with Lauren Shehadi, Robert Flores and Mark DeRosa on MLB Network, Utley said living in London and visiting nearby countries has been a pleasurable experience:
“It’s been such an amazing experience. We moved here as a family to experience living in Europe, traveling around a bunch, seeing different countries and exposing our kids to something a little bit different than what they would be exposed to at home. And also promoting baseball, which obviously is a passion of all of us. So far it’s been a fantastic time.”
The 44-year-old added he believes MLB is already having success with making baseball more popular throughout London:
“It’s definitely growing. Before I was here with you guys, I was over at a park with about 350 lower-school kids. Major League Baseball started a First Pitch program a couple years ago to essentially introduce baseball to kids that don’t know anything about it. We went into 200 different schools throughout London, it’s a six-week program, introduction to baseball, the rules, how to play, throw, hit, all the fun stuff.”
Along with Utley spearheading a grassroots effort, the Mayor’s Greater London Authority, British Baseball Federation, BaseballSoftballUK and MLB are providing more than $1 million through 2026 to help bring baseball to more citizens and locations throughout the country.
Next year, Utley will get to welcome his former Phillies team as they play the New York Mets in the 2024 London Series.
Chase Utley made lasting impact on Dodgers
After being traded to the Dodgers in August 2015, Utley quickly made his presence felt in the clubhouse, and that impact remained well after retiring.
One year before moving to London, Utley helped provide instruction in the 2021 Dodgers strength and training symposium at Dodger Stadium.
More must-reads: