J.A. Happ to be inducted into the Northwestern Hall of Fame

St. Bede alum J.A. Happ will be one of nine Wildcats inducted into the Northwestern University Hall of Fame this fall.

They will be formally inducted Friday, Sept. 13.

Happ, who went on to have a 15-year major league career, pitched for the Wildcats from 2002 to 2004. He said it’s a honor to be inducted into Northwestern’s Hall of Fame.

“Looking back on my college career I had no idea what to expect,” said Happ, who retired from the big leagues in 2022 and lives in Tennessee with his family of five. “I remember being very nervous going into it. I wondered if I was good enough. The thing I’m most proud of is showing up each day, often anxious, and giving my best effort to compete and get better, in spite of those nerves. That built a confidence in me that allowed for success on the field and in the classroom.”

The first three-time First Team All-Big Ten selection in program history, Happ compiled a career 2.88 ERA at Northwestern, which ranks seventh in program history and stands as the best mark in the past 35 seasons.

He led the Big Ten as a freshman with a 1.62 ERA and was named an honorable mention Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.

As a sophomore, he logged a career-best seven wins, posting a 3.58 ERA with 94 strikeouts in 83 innings of work.

In his junior season, the left-hander went 6-3 with a Big Ten-leading 106 strikeouts in 94 innings, becoming only the second Wildcat in program history with more than 100 strikeouts in a season.

Happ finished his three-year Northwestern career with a 16-11 record, four saves, four shutouts and 251 strikeouts in 228 innings pitched. He ranks fourth in career strikeouts by a Wildcat pitcher and holds the program record winning six Big Ten Pitcher of the Week awards.

The Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in the third round of the 2004 MLB Amateur Draft. He broke in with the Phillies in 2007 and won a World Series ring with the team in 2008, pitching three innings of relief in the NLCS.

The following season, Happ finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting, posting a 12-4 record with a 2.93 ERA and a league-best two shutouts.

He pitched for eight big-league teams, going 133-100 with a 4.13 ERA and 1,661 strikeouts over 1,893⅔ innings.

His best season was 2016, when he finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting, compiling a career-best record of 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA in 195 innings for a Toronto Blue Jays team that reached the ALCS.

Happ was named an All-Star in 2018 with the Blue Jays, and finished the season with the New York Yankees, totaling a line of 17-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 177⅔ innings.

The 2001 BCR Athlete of the Year finished his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2021 and announced his retirement in May 2022.

Happ was inducted into the Shaw Media Illinois Valley Hall of Fame in 2019. The city of Peru renamed the Washington Park baseball field after Happ in 2023.