Jason Heyward remembers looking around at his teammates as the rain came down in Cleveland – everyone at a loss for words, dumbfounded, feeling the weight of the lead they’d just forfeited – and knowing he had to say something.
“I’ve got to remind these dudes of how I see them,” recounted Thursday, “Because they’re amazing. They’re gladiators. And through every up, every down in that season, it didn’t matter; we always had an answer.”
Cubs fans have heard the story of Jason Heyward’s Game 7 rain delay speech before. It’s part of World Series lore by now, heralded as a turning point in the Cubs’ quest for a curse-breaking championship. But it takes on a different tenor now, as Heyward says goodbye to the team he’s spent the past seven seasons with.
On Thursday, Heyward addressed the media for the first time since president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced last month that the team planned to release Heyward from the final year of his $184 million contract to pursue potential opportunities with another team. He plans to play next season.
“But as we’re sitting here today, plans don’t always go as you hope,” Heyward said. “So, we’ll see what happens, we’ll see what options I’m presented. Because it’s a different playing field now as far as who’s interested. I also had to be realistic about their roles that they think that I should be in. Is that a minor league invite? Is that possibility saying, ‘No, we want you on this team, we’re here to win and compete, we understand what you bring in a winning environment.’ So, those are things that I do have to check in on.”
He didn’t rule out accepting a minor-league deal with a spring training invite, pointing to the extra opportunities for playing time in spring training because of the timing of the World Baseball Classic.
Heyward has hit under .215 the past two seasons – with limited playing time this season – but his resume also includes five Gold Gloves, a Word Series and a long list of teammates ready to attest to the outsized positive influence he brings to a clubhouse.
As for the conversations with Hoyer that led up to the decision to part ways, Heyward said he appreciated “the real.”
“If people are blowing smoke and not keeping it real with you, it’s tougher to get up every day and go to work, or tougher to treat other people how you want to be treated,” he said. “So it was nice to have that, in a sense.”
That doesn’t make it an easy split. But both Hoyer and Heyward have left the door open for a possible reunion after Heyward retires from playing. He said he’d like to “bridge that gap” between the front office and the clubhouse, perhaps on the “partial ownership side.”
Heyward hasn’t played since late June, landing on the injured list since late August with what the Cubs identified as inflammation in his right knee. It’s given him time to reflect.
“What I’ve taken most from it is, how do we handle failure?” he said. “Because that’s a big part of life, obviously, but it’s a big part of this game. We’re always going to fail more times than we succeed. And I know that’s cliche, but how we handle those things, that comes back your way.”
Since Hoyer announced the team was moving on from Heyward, the outfielder said, he’s received an outpouring of love, respect and gratitude.
“I feel like that comes from how I’ve handled everything,” he said.
Case in point: The Cubs plan to honor Heyward during Saturday’s game against the Reds.
“It’s going to be heavy,” Heyward said. “It’s going to be emotional.”
The Cubs fan base may not have always been kind when Heyward was slumping at the plate, but it’s still a one he has played for over the past seven years. And Chicago is a city he’s come to call home, where he started a family.
It’s a community he’s poured resources into. Heyward was the Cubs’ Roberto Clemente Award Nominee this year, for the third straight season, for his contributions to COVID-19 pandemic relief, support of the Austin Harvest Fresh Market and upcoming launch of the Jason Heyward Baseball Academy in Chicago’s North Austin neighborhood, to name a few.
“I think it’s a direct reflection of who he is in the locker room,” manager David Ross said. “It’s unselfish. This guy’s been blessed with a lot of money, and you don’t hear about it. You see it invested in others – his time, his passion for the community. … Anybody that’s been able to meet him, you’re getting a smile, you’re getting engagement – whether it’s in the community, or a rookie here. He’s invested in people.”
Ross and Heyward’s relationship goes back over a decade, to Heyward’s rookie season, when the two had neighboring lockers in the Braves clubhouse.
When Ross looks back at their time together, two moments stand out. The first is Heyward’s debut – against the Cubs, no less – when Heyward homered off Carlos Zambrano in his first at-bat. He was the hometown kid with the weight of the future of the franchise on his shoulders, and he rose to the occasion.
The other is his rain delay speech.
Ross remembers the feeling that things were spinning really fast, seeing Aroldis Chapman in tears after having given up the RBI double and home run that tied the game.
“J-Hey stopped everything and got back to, we are the best team in Major League Baseball. We’ve proven that, and the way we did that was by supporting each other, playing for one another. And that’s who we are, and that’s how we’ve done it up to this point. To take it back to the core of who we were as a team was really important.”
Long after Cubs fans have forgotten Heyward’s statistics over his tenure in Chicago, they’ll remember that story.
Asked if he thought his speech had an effect on the outcome of the game, Heyward said: “I know it had an effect on it.”
Note: The Cubs beat the Phillies 2-0 Thursday to complete a six-game season sweep. It’s just the fifth time in franchise history that the Cubs have gone undefeated in a season series against a National League team, according to team historian Ed Hartig.
The Cubs also wrapped up play against the NL East, finishing 21-10 against the division, their highest winning percentage (.677) against NL East teams in franchise history.
