This moment felt far away nearly four years.
As July turned to August in 2021, Ian Happ’s long-term future with the Chicago Cubs was in on shaky ground as a terrible first half saw his playing time reduced to coming off the bench for stretches. A torrid second half in 2021 set up an All-Star season the following year, paving the way for a three-year contract extension in April 2023 that keeps the left fielder a Cub through next year.
Happ’s journey brings him to his 1,000th game in a Cubs uniform Saturday at Wrigley Field. He will become the 32nd player in franchise history and just the ninth since 1969 to achieve the milestone. He’s in elite company, being part of the divisional-era group to hit that mark with Anthony Rizzo (2018), Aramis Ramírez (2011), Sammy Sosa (1999), Mark Grace (1994), Shawon Dunston (1994), Ryne Sandberg (1988), Don Kessinger (1971) and Glenn Beckert (1971).
“I’m so proud to have been here for as long as I have and to be a part of the organization, been here for a while so you get to be a part of some of those lists and with some of those guys that are greats of the franchise — anytime you’re on one of those lists, it’s pretty cool,” Happ told the Tribune. “Being able to bounce back from that 2021 and what I’ve been able to do for the last three years, there’s different points in my career where I’ve had great success and different points where I’ve struggled, and to be able to persevere through that and feel like I’ve been able to be productive in the game, I think those are the things that I’m most proud of.”
Happ also will become the sixth active player to appear in at least 1,000 games with one team, according to Elias Sports Bureau, joining the Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve, Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez, Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout, Cleveland Guardians’ José Ramírez and New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who reached the mark Friday.
Justin Turner knows how hard it can be to record that milestone, let alone accomplishing the feat with only one team in a career. Turner, 40, appeared in 1,075 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, though, as he pointed out, they were his third of seven big-league teams.
“Just the composure, the flat line of the heartbeat never gets too up, never gets too down, the same guy every single day walks through these doors,” Turner said of Happ. “I think one of the one of the best compliments that anyone can receive is you know exactly what you’re going to get every single day, and that’s a good thing. So it’s pretty cool, and I’m happy that I’m going to be here to be a part of that and help celebrate with him.”
Happ has not let the low points define his career, even when they cast uncertainty on his future from being optioned to Triple A at the start of the 2019 season to his 2021 struggles. Second baseman Nico Hoerner is in his seventh season playing alongside Happ, witnessing firsthand what it has taken for the 30-year-old to reach this mark.
“There’s a lot of persistence in that (1,000 games), and I think it’s cool that we think of him as such a steady, everyday left fielder now, but it took better part of four years to reach a place of earning that consistency here, partly due to having great players here when he was young,” Hoerner told the Tribune. “There are so many factors along the way that get lost, and especially for guys that have just seen him now in this role that he’s earned and is so steady in, but just his ability to continue improving, regardless of the situation that he’s in, is really, really impressive.”
The consistency of Happ’s routine and preparation has stood out to those behind the scenes. Hoerner noted the discipline it takes for a player not to do too many reps in a day while always staying on top of what Happ knows he needs to be ready.
“Players feel the pressure to perform all the time and oftentimes can work themselves into the ground in a way that isn’t helpful for themselves or the group, and I think especially for younger players and the things that I still feel of needing to always be doing something, it actually takes more confidence to build a routine that’s efficient and is enough for what you need,” Hoerner said. “And he’s got that pretty down to a T. He’s always working on new things and looking to improve but not running around chasing things. He’s always dictating the day himself.”
Since earning an All-Star nod in 2022, Happ as a switch hitter has averaged 21 home runs, 37 doubles, 81 RBIs and a 118 OPS+ per season to accompany three Gold Glove awards, figures that can be overlooked with a steady-but-not-flashy style of play. Staying healthy and being available every day has played a key role in his success, physical and mental resiliency that isn’t necessarily reflected in a box score.
Hoerner declared that any team would happily sign up for Happ’s level of consistency, while Turner called him a very underrated player.
“His preparation and his process is really designed like to be consistent, it’s how he’s wired, it’s his nature to be able to execute that day after day after day, and it puts him in the best position to go out and have success on the field — it’s a way harder thing to do than we give that credit for,” manager Craig Counsell said. “‘Oh, that takes no talent to do that,’ I think that’s what people tend to say. It takes actually a lot of talent to do that, it really does.
“Results make you emotional, emotions make you abandon your processes. And Ian never does. And that’s a real kind of mental strength that Ian has.”
Happ remains the bridge between the most successful stretch of Cubs baseball in the modern era and this next iteration that is looking to return to the postseason and reassert its dominance in the division. When Happ debuted in 2017 with the organization coming off its first World Series title in 108 years, it “wouldn’t have been something I thought was possible” that nine years later he is now the longest-tenured player on the Cubs, given who else was on the team at the time.
Whether it’s Happ’s link to the 2016 championship team or his career upswing coinciding with the Cubs turning things around, his love for the franchise does not go unnoticed. It’s what sticks out the most to Counsell, who said Happ is “so proud to be a Cub.”
Happ embodies and contextualizes that for his teammates too.
“It’s important to have players around that appreciate the history of the organization that we’re in and appreciate Chicago and Wrigley and all of it, and that should forever be a standard with the Cubs, long after we’re gone here of just knowing that we’re in a really special place with the unique opportunities and to be grateful for everything that’s come before us,” Hoerner said. “He does a really nice job of reminding the group of that and just by prioritizing it himself it becomes a standard.”
