Jason Heyward carved out a solid 16-year career for himself, with stops with the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, and San Diego Padres. He played a big leadership role in the Cubs' drought-ending World Series victory in 2016, and added a second ring from his time with the Dodgers in 2024. While he wasn't always known for his bat, he had a solid career in the outfield with six Gold Gloves. On Friday afternoon, Heyward announced his retirement, according to Jesse Rogers via X, formerly Twitter.
“Jason Heyward has officially retired, via a release today,” Rogers posted. “16 years, two rings, one rain delay speech.”
The two rings portion of Rogers' post alludes to the fact that he was on the Dodgers' roster for the first half of the 2024 season, which was the first of their back-to-back championships. While he wasn't actually there when the Dodgers went on their run, the part he played with the rain delay speech in 2016 might be what he is best known for.
Game 7 of the 2016 World Series was delayed by rain in the later innings, giving the Cubs a chance to reset as things were starting to get away from them. Instead of sitting around the clubhouse and thinking about what was in front of them, Fowler orchestrated a 17-minute players' only meeting, which helped inspire his teammates and break the drought.
The Cubs went on to win 8-7 in extra innings, securing their championship and making Fowler an important piece of the lore of that unthinkable run.
