The Couple That Loves Us Back
But the Utleys are different. At the urging of Chase’s teammate Pat Burrell, they bought their condo in the city; during one recent three-week span, they were spotted at three different charity events, including their own — a fund-raiser for the Pennsylvania SPCA that netted $200,000. While many sports stars do charity work, the Utleys do more than lend their name and donate. Jen started volunteering at the PSPCA because it was a no-kill shelter; she began, she says, by “scooping poop and cleaning out cat cages.” And then she met Etana, a pup boxer mix that had been badly beaten and burned. Her face was partially melted off, yet her tail wagged every time Jen came near her.
“I was on my way to Reading to rehab my broken hand last season when Jen called,” Chase recalls. “She was upset and said, ‘I just want you to know we’re paying for this dog’s medical bills.’ I was, like, ‘Okay. Uh, bye.’ Four days later, I met Etana and heard how this is one of the biggest cities for dog-fighting. And we just said, ‘We’ve got to do something about this.’”
Etana’s bills totaled $3,000; today he’s happy in the suburbs, the Utleys proudly report. Jen threw herself into the PSPCA; she’s now on the board and chairs its fund-raising committee. (“I don’t know if I know how to chair a committee,” she said to her mom, Jane Cooper, who is active in charity work back home in Marin, California.) Together, the Utleys urged the Phillies to hold Adopt-a-Pet days at Citizens Bank Park the past two years, raising roughly $60,000 and resulting in some 40 adoptions. And plans are already under way for another, even bigger fund-raiser for the PSPCA next spring. At the inaugural one in May, a Center City Who’s Who turned out, to be greeted by a back-room display Chase and Jen put together of materials confiscated from local dog-fighting venues, including a “rape stand.”
“The dogs are trained to be so aggressive, they won’t breed,” Jen says, her voice catching even now. “So they have to strap the female down in the stand to do it. It’s so sad.”
The Utleys have two cats — Sebastian and Sugar, both saved from shelters. That doesn’t mean Jen might not give in and add to the brood soon. Last season, after a game during the pennant race, Chase got home at 11:30 and came face-to-face with an exuberant baby pit bull, while Jen hid in the kitchen.
“Who are you?” Chase said.
“That’s Bo!” Jen said, mustering the courage to gauge her husband’s reaction. She explained that she named the dog Bo because her scrunched-up face made Jen think she needed Botox. They thought about keeping her, but high-rise living and their travel schedules preclude caring for a dog for now, so they fostered her for a few days. “She liked to bite your toes,” Chase says. “And she peed, like, every 30 seconds.”
Just what you needed during a pennant race, huh?
“Oh, she was a sweet dog,” Chase says, a little wistful.
