Ian Happ soars past Kris Bryant on all-time Cubs home run list
CHICAGO — The home runs are coming in bunches for Ian Happ and with each blast, he further cements his place in Chicago Cubs history.
Happ crushed homers in each of his first two at-bats Saturday at Wrigley Field, giving him 161 longballs in his career.
His 17th career multi-homer game moved him past former teammate Kris Bryant for 15th all-time in Cubs franchise history:
Happ found out about the feat from Marquee Sports Network’s Elise Menaker after the game:
“Really cool,” Happ said. “Just being here and being available and being out there on the field, anytime you’re on a list with those guys — names of all-time Cubs greats — it’s really cool.”
It’s the third straight game with a homer for Happ, and he now has eight dingers in June. He began the month with only three home runs, which was a surprise for a player who regularly tops 20 homers in a season.
“When you’re sitting there middle of May with three homers, definitely frustrated,” Happ said. “Just want to do more and want to help more. But I’ve done this long enough that I have confidence that it’s going to show up at some point. Just keep making the right swings.”
It was a perfect day for hitters at the Friendly Confines — a warm, humid afternoon with wind blowing out consistently at 20 mph. Happ and the Cubs’ offense took advantage with four home runs in the first three innings and five longballs total on the day.
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It was also the second straight game in which Happ smacked a leadoff home run, becoming the first Cub to pull off that feat since another former teammate (Anthony Rizzo) in 2017:
If Happ has a big second half, he could possibly catch Andre Dawson (174) and Derrek Lee (179) and keep moving up the all-time Cubs home run list.
Though it’s fair to say Sammy Sosa — who just returned to Wrigley Field Friday for the first time in 21 years — is safe atop the Cubs franchise leaderboard with 545 home runs.
Here is the complete list of Cubs all-time home run leaders:
- Sammy Sosa – 545
- Ernie Banks – 512
- Billy Williams – 392
- Ron Santo – 337
- Ryne Sandberg – 282
- Anthony Rizzo – 242
- Aramis Ramirez – 239
- Gabby Hartnett – 231
- Bill Nicolson – 205
- Hank Sauer – 198
- Hack Wilson – 190
- Alfonso Soriano – 181
- Derrek Lee – 179
- Andre Dawson – 174
- Ian Happ – 161
Happ tied a career high with 25 longballs last season, a feat he also accomplished in 2021.
He has 11 homers this season through the Cubs’ first 76 games, putting him on pace for 23 over the full year.
