Chase Utley pretends to be batboy? Peter Gammons shares epic stories of No. 26

Chase Utley is "The Man."

That has been a fact ever since Harry Kalas said it.

But these stories, courtesy of renowned baseball analyst and writer Peter Gammons, make Utley "The Man" that much more.

This one is just epic. It's about Utley defending a teammate but not wanting to show up the umpire in the process. So, the former Phillie disguised himself as a batboy.

Then there was a game last year in which Kershaw wasn’t getting strikes he thought he’d thrown. When the Dodgers got back to the dugout, A.J. Ellis was hollering at the home plate umpire. Utley warned Ellis not to get ejected. Chase grabbed a batboy’s skull cap, a jacket, got a towel and rounded up a bunch of fresh baseballs and went out to give the umpires the balls, which is the batboy’s job. When the umpire asked him what he was doing, Utley told him he was not going to embarrass the ump, that no one would notice he was out there, but Kershaw had to have some of those pitches. Having spoken his peace, Utley ran back to the dugout like just another clubbie batboy.

The other story involves Utley asking to be drilled by the opposing pitcher — and really, are you surprised?

Check that one out and more in Gammons' terrific piece right here.