celebrity gossip, academic style

Today’s excellent post comes courtesy of fellow UT media studies grad student Mabel Rosenheck, whose undying passion for the Phillies has *almost* convinced me to put away my Minnesota Twins Homer Hankie.

(Or maybe it’s just Chase Utley, who can really say).

And specifically, Chase Utley meet the minivan majority and minivan majority meet Chase Utley. Chase Utley is the Philadelphia Phillies 30 year old second baseman. Since getting the call up to the big leagues in 2003, Utley has been named an all-star 4 times, the best offensive player at his position three times and to Team USA at the World Baseball Classic twice. He hits for average (career .295) and power (20+ home runs and close to 100 RBI in his 5 full seasons as an everyday player). He has speed (stealing 23 bases this year, a career high). He has defense. He catches balls that should be hits in right field and throws to first to complete the double play. He is what baseball people call a five-tool player, a Mickey Mantle, a Hank Aaron.

He is also adorable. Not only does he have all-American good lucks replete with deep blue eyes that can send a 95 mile an hour fastball into the stands, but he has also been voted People magazine’s sexiest man in the World Series. Sexier than Derek Jeter. Sexier than Alex Rodriguez. Chase Utley is sexier than Kate Hudson’s boyfriend (or if you prefer a brunette on television, sexier than Minka Kelly’s boyfriend).

He’s also worried about the environment. And he loves puppies. Every athlete has a pet charity, Utley’s comes courtesy of his wife’s dedication to the PSPCA. And the reason she got so involved with the PSPCA? Because she wanted a life of her own when her husband is on the road.

But there’s more.

In 2007, Utley signed a 7-year, $85 million contract, foregoing arbitration and opting not to test the free agent market when his initial contract would have expired in 2012. In other words, he is loyal. And though 11 million is nothing to scoff at, with top players like Alex Rodriguez making close to $30 million, and Utley’s worth undoubtedly closer to 20 million than 10… It’s hard to call the guy greedy.

And the list goes on. He hates the spotlight. He just wants to be left alone so he can play the game he loves. He doesn’t want to be a hero. He just wants to help his team and win the World Series. He’s incredibly wholesome, but he’s also just crazy enough to drop the F-bomb on live television.

What Phillies fans have known for years, the rest of the country, and perhaps the minivan majority in particular have discovered this postseason. Chase Utley is not only the man, he just might be their man. The Yankees may have won but Utley may have been the one to make the impression.

There are two linked star systems which must be explored in order to better understand where Utley’s stardom is, where it is not and why. First we should return to a few key points in Annie’s initial blog posting on the minivan majority and second we should examine the construction of sports stardom generally and baseball specifically.

The idea that “people of any race, color, creed or background can make something of themselves with hard work” is of course, the foundation of the American dream of success and affluence. It is also the idea that, perhaps more than any other, underpins the ideology of sport. Fundamental to Utley’s stardom is his dedication to the team and the game. Stories on him often refer to his aggressive workouts, playing injured and incessant game tape viewing. There are a few interesting contrasts to Utley here. One is the perceived laziness of a player like Manny Ramirez who, particularly when playing in Boston in 2008 was criticized for not running out grounders or hustling to fly balls. Another is the undisciplined bodies of big players like Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia who is 6’7” and 290 pounds whose size was somewhat inexplicably remarked upon repeatedly in game 4 of this year’s World Series. The point here is that hard work and the disciplined body are linked to a series of discourses which are vital to the game as America’s game, and both the game and the minivan majority as embodiments of America and the American dream.

Yet also important to note is that Utley’s body is not too disciplined. He is a model of moderation in every way. In his Phillies uniform we never see flexed biceps or rippling abs. The most we are treated to is a sly glance at his cute butt in tight baseball pants if the camera happens to be cooperating. Though some players conduct shirtless interviews in the clubhouse, never Utley. In endorsements, if not in his uniform, he wears baggy (but not too baggy) athletic shorts and a t-shirt tucked in to the waistband. Though drafted out of high school, he opted instead to attend UCLA where he met his future wife. They dated for 6 years, most of those years long distance, before marrying. Yet they do not embody strict gender roles. Though only now beginning to get press coverage, she is always portrayed as his equal and her confidence in front of the camera is in stark contrast to Chase’s shyness. She is a twenty-first century woman and he a twenty-first century man. They are conservative, as in “those who would like to conserve the current state of things.” She is not a radical feminist, but neither is she Victoria Beckham (or Kate Hudson).

This issue of moderation further speaks to stardom as a dialectic between the ordinary and the extraordinary. One of the brilliant things about sports stardom is how it upholds beauty standards in this dialectic. Utley doesn’t wear makeup on the field, he really looks like that. But we don’t love him for the way he looks (which after all is in part only extraordinary compared to his competition), rather we love him for the way he plays (which has its own aesthetics). And this dialectic is worth highlighting. His athleticism in concert with his good looks provides a powerful moment for awestruck gazes of both women and men, which I would argue is an important function of sports stardom for the minivan majority. Among the recent publicized examples of the male love affair with Utley are Mac’s love letter on a recent episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Joe Posnaski’s ode to Utley’s swing on espn.com. There has also been coverage in People and elsewhere of this team’s sex appeal for women. It is noteworthy here that minivan majority celebrity gossip outlets like People and Access Hollywood have developed an investment in Utley’s stardom and his start text in the past week or so. Though I’m sure they regularly follow Alex Rodriguez and Kate Hudson, there are never interviews with Jimmy Rollins’ fiancé, or C.C. Sabathia’s wife but there are with Jennifer Utley.

Though I could further explore the fascinating gender politics at stake in the Utleys, instead I wish to use this as a segue to another of Annie’s points about members of the minivan majority and the Utleys, they are white. Contemporary sports are generally dominated by blacks (and in baseball’s case, latinos). The NBA is 76% black, the NFL, 66%, Major League Baseball? 60% white (about 8% black, and %30 Latino). MLB, with a star like Chase Utley would seem primed for the minivan majority to launch him into superstardom. But the problem with Utley, I think, is that the sports media doesn’t know what to do with him. Because of his intense privacy (and being a legendarily terrible interviewee and never having any soundbites worth airing again and again and again), they can do nothing but watch him play, watch his white, male body in motion and watch that swing. and I think there is a discomfort there that prevents Utley from becoming a more conventional sports star. This is also however, what makes him potentially the perfect embodiment of the star. As Orin Starn related for the New York Times “we want these athletes to astonish us, but we also want to imagine them as someone like us.” With no fixed identity, Utley’s authentic, white masculinity allows the minivan majority- both male and female- to imagine away. He embodies (and brings forth) the anxiety of both the male gaze and the active female gaze up on the white male body. Thus far, People and Access Hollywood (though also It’s Always Sunny) seem to have been more successful in capitalizing on that anxiety which he embodies. It remains to be seen whether the sports media, ESPN or Major League Baseball will find a way to parlay Chase Utley into the minivan majority icon that he clearly could be.