By Bill Koch
In the history of the UC baseball program, three players stand out above all the rest – Sandy Koufax, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Happ.
Koufax, perhaps the greatest left-hander in major league history, is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was a seven-time All-Star, with three Cy Young awards, one MVP Award, and four no-hitters. He played only one season for the Bearcats in 1954 where he went 3-1 with a 3.82 earned run average before he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Youkilis, had a successful 10-year major league career, mainly with the Boston Red Sox, playing in three All-Star games. He won a Gold Glove playing first base for the Red Sox in 2007. Youkilis played at UC from 1998 to 2001, and hit .336, which ranks second in school history. He holds school records for runs (279), home runs (53), and walks (206). He hit .281 in the majors with 150 home runs, 618 runs batted in and a .381 on-base percentage.
Now it’s Happ’s turn to shine.
The ninth overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft is the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Chicago Cubs. He just finished a three-game series against the Reds at Great American Ball Park during which he snapped out of a season-long slump by going 3-for-5 with 3 runs batted in 3 runs scored Sunday. He also hit a 3-run homer that tied the game at 12-12 in the eighth before the Reds won 13-12 in 10 innings.
Those who followed Happ at UC knew it was only a matter of time before the Pittsburgh native started to hit the way he did for the Bearcats when he led the American Athletic Conference as a junior in batting average (.369), on-base percentage (.492), slugging percentage (.672), total bases (133) and walks (49) for a team that went 15-41. He also hit 14 home runs, drove in 44 runs and was the AAC Player of the Year.
When I talked to Happ just before the draft, he said he hadn’t decided if he would turn pro or return to UC for his senior season, but it seemed obvious even then that he would be moving on.
“I’ve had a great three years at Cincinnati,” Happ said.
It took him only two years to get called up by the Cubs. In his first game in the big leagues, he started in right field and went 1-for-3 with a home run against the St. Louis Cardinals. The next day he went 2-for-4.
Former Reds first baseman Sean Casey, a member of the Reds Hall of Fame, served as a mentor to Happ while he was in high school and college.
“I know what that feeling’s like,” Casey said after Happ was called up. “I remember getting called up the Indians in ’97. When he hit the home run in St. Louis for his first big league hit, you feel like you finally made it. Your dream has come true. I shot him a text and told him how awesome it is, to cherish it, and wished him many more to come.”
Happ met Casey at a facility in Pittbsurgh where they both worked out. Soon they were talking regularly on the phone.
“He’s so charismatic,” Happ said of Casey when I asked him about their relationship. “He just loves talking hitting. He’ll get in your face and he’ll yell at you about hitting. That’s the way he talks.”
Casey said he had known about Happ before they met.
“I knew there was a really good player from the area and I knew he was going to Cincinnati,” Casey said. “We struck up a friendship. One day he said, ‘Is there any chance we could hit sometime?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to hit with you.’
“The biggest thing about Ian is that he loves baseball,” Casey continued. “I was so impressed that he would come in and work out by himself – and they were hard workouts – and how he would get after it. It was stuff like I used to do. I just saw that he loved the game.”
Casey presented Happ with a book called “The Mental Game of Baseball,” by Harvey Dorfman. The book was Casey’s bible when he was playing and he tried to convince Happ that it would serve him well, too.
“I remember giving it to him, saying ‘If you read this every day for the next few years, I’ll know you’re serious about this,’” Casey said. "'If you read it and just put it down, I’ll know you just want to be an OK player.’ I said, ‘There shouldn’t be a day that goes by where you don’t look at this book.’”
Happ no doubt needed all the mental toughness he could muster after the way he started the 2021 season. When he arrived in Cincinnati, he had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats and was hitting less than .140. When he left he was hitting .167, a long way from his standards, but at least he appeared to be making progress.
“Baseball is such a difficult game,” Happ said during one of our interviews. “When you fail so much, you have to define success the right way – hitting the ball hard, getting on base, helping your team – those are the things that you have to thrive on so that you can stay positive.”
Happ had a chance to be one of the Cubs’ heroes Sunday when he hit the 3-run homer that tied the game in the top of the eighth. But in the bottom of the inning, he collided in short center field with Cubs’ second baseman Rico Hoerner, and had to leave the game.
After the game, Cubs manager David Ross told reporters he had talked to Happ and that he was in good spirits.
In his fifth season with the Cubs, the pride of UC has a .242 career batting average with 64 home runs, 174 runs batted in, 179 runs and OPS of .806.
In the history of the UC baseball program, three players stand out above all the rest – Sandy Koufax, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Happ.
Koufax, perhaps the greatest left-hander in major league history, is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He was a seven-time All-Star, with three Cy Young awards, one MVP Award, and four no-hitters. He played only one season for the Bearcats in 1954 where he went 3-1 with a 3.82 earned run average before he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Youkilis, had a successful 10-year major league career, mainly with the Boston Red Sox, playing in three All-Star games. He won a Gold Glove playing first base for the Red Sox in 2007. Youkilis played at UC from 1998 to 2001, and hit .336, which ranks second in school history. He holds school records for runs (279), home runs (53), and walks (206). He hit .281 in the majors with 150 home runs, 618 runs batted in and a .381 on-base percentage.
Now it’s Happ’s turn to shine.
The ninth overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft is the starting center fielder and leadoff hitter for the Chicago Cubs. He just finished a three-game series against the Reds at Great American Ball Park during which he snapped out of a season-long slump by going 3-for-5 with 3 runs batted in 3 runs scored Sunday. He also hit a 3-run homer that tied the game at 12-12 in the eighth before the Reds won 13-12 in 10 innings.
Those who followed Happ at UC knew it was only a matter of time before the Pittsburgh native started to hit the way he did for the Bearcats when he led the American Athletic Conference as a junior in batting average (.369), on-base percentage (.492), slugging percentage (.672), total bases (133) and walks (49) for a team that went 15-41. He also hit 14 home runs, drove in 44 runs and was the AAC Player of the Year.
When I talked to Happ just before the draft, he said he hadn’t decided if he would turn pro or return to UC for his senior season, but it seemed obvious even then that he would be moving on.
“I’ve had a great three years at Cincinnati,” Happ said.
It took him only two years to get called up by the Cubs. In his first game in the big leagues, he started in right field and went 1-for-3 with a home run against the St. Louis Cardinals. The next day he went 2-for-4.
Former Reds first baseman Sean Casey, a member of the Reds Hall of Fame, served as a mentor to Happ while he was in high school and college.
“I know what that feeling’s like,” Casey said after Happ was called up. “I remember getting called up the Indians in ’97. When he hit the home run in St. Louis for his first big league hit, you feel like you finally made it. Your dream has come true. I shot him a text and told him how awesome it is, to cherish it, and wished him many more to come.”
Happ met Casey at a facility in Pittbsurgh where they both worked out. Soon they were talking regularly on the phone.
“He’s so charismatic,” Happ said of Casey when I asked him about their relationship. “He just loves talking hitting. He’ll get in your face and he’ll yell at you about hitting. That’s the way he talks.”
Casey said he had known about Happ before they met.
“I knew there was a really good player from the area and I knew he was going to Cincinnati,” Casey said. “We struck up a friendship. One day he said, ‘Is there any chance we could hit sometime?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to hit with you.’
“The biggest thing about Ian is that he loves baseball,” Casey continued. “I was so impressed that he would come in and work out by himself – and they were hard workouts – and how he would get after it. It was stuff like I used to do. I just saw that he loved the game.”
Casey presented Happ with a book called “The Mental Game of Baseball,” by Harvey Dorfman. The book was Casey’s bible when he was playing and he tried to convince Happ that it would serve him well, too.
“I remember giving it to him, saying ‘If you read this every day for the next few years, I’ll know you’re serious about this,’” Casey said. "'If you read it and just put it down, I’ll know you just want to be an OK player.’ I said, ‘There shouldn’t be a day that goes by where you don’t look at this book.’”
Happ no doubt needed all the mental toughness he could muster after the way he started the 2021 season. When he arrived in Cincinnati, he had been hitless in his last 16 at-bats and was hitting less than .140. When he left he was hitting .167, a long way from his standards, but at least he appeared to be making progress.
“Baseball is such a difficult game,” Happ said during one of our interviews. “When you fail so much, you have to define success the right way – hitting the ball hard, getting on base, helping your team – those are the things that you have to thrive on so that you can stay positive.”
Happ had a chance to be one of the Cubs’ heroes Sunday when he hit the 3-run homer that tied the game in the top of the eighth. But in the bottom of the inning, he collided in short center field with Cubs’ second baseman Rico Hoerner, and had to leave the game.
After the game, Cubs manager David Ross told reporters he had talked to Happ and that he was in good spirits.
In his fifth season with the Cubs, the pride of UC has a .242 career batting average with 64 home runs, 174 runs batted in, 179 runs and OPS of .806.
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