What's with Cubs and Waffle Makers? Only Ian Happ seems to know for sure.

The angels had the gathering monkey.

The Cardinals had the gathering squirrel.

And now, the Cubs have the waffle iron. Where are they?

It all started on August 31 in Philadelphia when Javier Baez broke the fifth to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Returning to the boat, Ian Happ handed him a waffle iron.

Baez would have lifted and exclaimed: "Waffles".

So why a waffle maker? Happ had promised to explain but never did it.

Perhaps the fact that the Phillies won this game 2-1 in 10 innings softened his enthusiasm for the stunt.

To further confuse the mystery of waffles, Happ told Michigan Avenue magazine in July that although breakfast is his favorite dish, he prefers scrambled eggs and wait for him: a pancake.

So while the Cubs were traveling from Philadelphia to Milwaukee to Washington and finally home, the waffle maker would have been lost.

One might expect – perhaps even hope – that the tale ends there. But when savvy fans learned about the disappearance of the device, they sent three new ones to Wrigley: a Cuisinart, an Oster and a Black + Decker.

That same day, Happ hit a three-run circuit in the seventh, to give the Cubs a 3-2 win over the Reds.

Waffle on it.

And then Monday night, after Cole Hamels hit a solo circuit in the third round against the Pirates, Happ featured two of the waffle-throwers on the pitcher Cole Hamels, who lifted one in each hand and hoped that the Cubs' recipes needed to finally close the division – or at least get a place in the playoffs.

The irons, however, cooled down as Hamels' run was the only one the Cubs could achieve in their 5-1 defeat to the Pirates.

As waffle makers do not seem to have that baseball magic – who knew? – We could never see them again. Unless, of course, that Happ invites you to his place for breakfast. But even if he does, you may have to settle for a pancake.

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