By the time Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ was born, Boog Powell had been retired from Major League Baseball for 17 years. The two, however, are now linked in birthday history.
Happ celebrated his 30th birthday on Monday, August 12, as his Cubs lost 9-8 to the Cleveland Guardians. Happ hit a home run and walked three times in five plate appearances, becoming the first player to homer and walk three times on his birthday since Powell did it in 1970, according to OptaSTATS.
If you're looking for fun facts, that is, admittedly, a stretch.
But this is baseball and baseball is weird and fun. And Happ has accomplished home run feats like this before. The Cubs are two games under .500 and Happ was hitting .156 in August coming into the game. Maybe a good birthday — and his third homer in four games — is all it will take to get him going.
MLB.com's Sarah Langs had another one: Happ is the first player since 1900 to hit a home run and record multiple outfield assists on his birthday. The guy knows how to celebrate.
It hasn't been a career year for Happ, but it could be a career-high home run season. Happ is hitting just .230 through 113 games, but socked his 20th home run on Monday. That puts him on pace for 27 this season, which would beat the career high of 25 that he hit in 2021.
Ian Happ is in the giving spirit around his birthday
It may be Happ's time to celebrate, but he is in the spirit of giving this month. On August 8, former Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright posted a video to X showing the retirement gift that Happ sent him.
The Cub went all-out for his former opponent.
Wainwright unboxed the package, first revealing a hand-written note from Happ. The legendary Cardinal was quick to mention that Happ hit more home runs off of him than any other batter in his career (Happ hit .389 with seven homers off Wainwright).
“He stopped giving me home run gifts and he sent me a package to congratulate me on retirement,” Wainwright joked. “He was probably pretty sad about me retiring.”
Happ ended his note with “Eddie and I thought this would be a great challenge in your retirement.”
Wainwright dug a little deeper and found another handwritten note, this one from “Eddie.” That is, die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and Pearl Jam lead Eddie Vedder. The package itself included an Eddie Vedder ukulele song book and a brand new ukulele, signed by Vedder.
“You just made me a Cubs fan for at least a few minutes,” Wainwright said to the camera. “Ian, unbelievable job, thank you so much.”
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