‘Pitchers throw 100mph, guys hit harder than ever’: Chicago Cubs slugger Ian Happ has vowed his team will put on a show for British fans at London Stadium next summer when they play twice against the Cardinals
Chicago Cubs slugger Ian Happ has told British fans to expect a high-speed, all-action spectacle when baseball returns to London next summer.
Happ’s Cubs will face the St Louis Cardinals at West Ham’s London Stadium in a two-match series, originally scheduled for June 2020 but canceled due to the Covid pandemic.
British fans turned out in droves for the first London Series of 2019, between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, with nearly 60,000 in attendance for both games – the highest MLB has seen since 2003.
Chicago Cubs slugger Ian Happ wants his chance to play in London next summer
The Cubs will face the St Louis Cardinals in a two-game series at London Stadium
And Happ, a switch-hitting outfielder who has played his entire career with the Cubs since his debut in 2017, is determined to make next year’s match-up worth the wait.
Asked what would keep the crowd coming back in June, Happ said: ‘The speed of the game. We have pitchers throwing 100-plus miles per hour, guys hitting the ball harder than ever.
‘There are just tremendous athletes all over the field and that’s what really excites us.
‘It’s similar to cricket in that you have a very small window to make decisions on pitches. A 90mph fastball reaches you in 0.4sec, and you have 0.1sec to decide if you want to swing or not.
‘It’s a really exciting part of our game and I think the fans are really going to love watching it.’
As Hall of Fame former Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters the game has ever seen, once had it, ‘hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports’.
Williams had less trouble than most, as a 19-time All-Star who hit 521 home runs and had more than 2,600 career hits despite missing five seasons of his career as a Marine fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War.
And Happ believes going to London next year – with games also scheduled there for 2024 and 2026 – will be the perfect opportunity for British fans to marvel at just how tough ‘the pastime of America’.
‘I think we’re going to come in a few days and lend ourselves to crossovers and get everyone involved,’ said Happ, who invited any West Ham players or England cricketers who wanted to come and have a swing. .
‘We’ve had crossovers in the States where an NBA or NFL player is trying to hit a baseball. It’s funny, those guys are great at what they do and then join us for batting practice. It’s not pretty.
‘It shows how hard the game is and I love doing collaborations like that, it would be a thrill for me.’
Happ said he’d like to see soccer players or cricketers try baseball when he’s in England
Happ is an All-Star for the first time in 2022 and has given his support to the idea put forward by Todd Boehly, the new Chelsea chairman and part-owner of baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, to have the same event in the Premier League.
‘Being an All-Star and representing the city is the real source of pride,’ Happ said. ‘For me, this is the ultimate accomplishment that I have dreamed of since I was a child. It took me six seasons to get a chance to play in my first All-Star Game and it was very emotional, a huge, huge event.
‘All the best players come together on one stage and put on a really amazing event for the fans.
‘In soccer you can have a really cool skills competition and show what amazing athletes those people are. I think it’s going to be fantastic.’
*The St Louis Cardinals will play the Chicago Cubs in the MLB World Tour: London Series 2023 on June 24 – 25 at London Stadium. Tickets go on sale 10am on 6 December 2022 at www.ticketmaster.co.uk/mlb
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