Illinois’ 1-2 Punch of J.A. Happ and Curtis Granderson Lifts Toronto’s Spirits
One way I introduce myself to people is as a lifelong Illinois resident. And if you’re pronouncing the state’s name with an S or a Z sound at the end, please stop it immediately. Thank you.
From a baseball perspective, Illinois isn’t an easy state to live in. It’s cold in the springtime (as the Cubs, White Sox and some of their early 2018 opponents can attest), and even when there isn’t snow on the ground, the rains wash away plenty of scheduled games, from Little League up through the majors. We’ll never have any domed stadiums—the way our northern neighbors in Wisconsin do—but the elements are always a factor to consider on game day.
Hundreds of Illinois natives have taken the field through the years, from every corner of the state. In terms of what it has given to the game of baseball, I’d put the Land of Lincoln up against any other state. And, by the way, there’s a park in Lincoln, Illinois, where Abe Lincoln is said to have played an early version of baseball. But the town probably wasn’t named Lincoln, at least not in those days.
So when two sons of Illinois – J.A. Happ and Curtis Granderson – cooled off baseball’s hottest team Tuesday night in Toronto, I knew it was a story worth telling.
J.A. Happ was born in Peru, Illinois, a town of about 10,000 people in LaSalle County. It’s about an hour and a half southwest of Chicago (It’s a Chicago thing, where we measure distances in time rather than in miles.) He pitched at my alma mater of Northwestern and was drafted by the Phillies in 2004. He’s been around in the majors, and this is his second stint with the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Game
Against a Red Sox lineup that came in averaging six runs a game, Happ dominated to the tune of four hits, one run, and 10 strikeouts in seven innings of work. Happ was in line for a win, too, but Jays closer Roberto Osuna had other ideas. Nobody really thought Osuna could keep an ERA of 0.00 for an entire season, did they?
After Boston scratched out two runs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, Curtis Granderson – the other half of Toronto’s dynamic Illinois duo – ended it with a towering walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th. Granderson was born in Blue Island, Illinois, one of Chicago’s south suburbs. He played college baseball for my other alma mater, the University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC.
Granderson has since played in Detroit, for both teams in New York and in Los Angeles before signing a one-year deal with the Blue Jays for this season. He’s leading off for the Jays and hitting a robust .321, demonstrating that he can still play at the highest level of the game.
I’ve always loved that baseball is an everyday sport, providing many opportunities for some strange or unexpected storyline to develop. And Toronto’s been in the news lately, for reasons that nobody ever wants to see in their city. But for a few hours on a Tuesday night, a pair of Illinois ballplayers helped to lift the city’s spirits. And if another Illinois native won’t point this out, who else would?
