Skip to content

Heyward, Lackey downplay return to St. Louis

Norm Hall / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Jason Heyward and John Lackey weren't members of the St. Louis Cardinals for very long, but they both became fan favorites during their brief tenures at Busch Stadium.

That changed, however, when they defected to the archrival Chicago Cubs over the winter.

On Monday, Heyward and Lackey return to St. Louis as the enemy for the first time to begin the latest installment of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry. Nobody's expecting a warm reception from the Cardinals faithful, but both players insist they won't be paying attention to how they're greeted.

"Haven't even thought about it," Lackey told Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. "I'll be trying to win a game, so I won't be focused on that."

"I don't care either way," Heyward said. "It's going to be baseball. It's going to be fun. I tune it out. It becomes part of the game."

Lackey knows a thing or two about hearing it from old friends after his experience returning to Anaheim. In his first start at Angel Stadium after signing a big contract with the Red Sox, fans greeted Lackey - whose performance in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series clinched the Angels' lone title - with a loud chorus of boos.

Heyward's lone season in St. Louis was a good one, and he was widely regarded as a big part of the Cardinals' future. His deal with the Cubs came as a shock to many, and some fans in the Show-Me State reacted quite harshly, with at least one burning his jersey in retaliation.

Rather than dwelling on the bad, though, the 26-year-old chose to shine a light on some of the positive messages he's received since joining Chicago.

"Any St. Louis fan I've seen in person, they've gone out of their way to be nice and say congratulations and thank you for last year," Heyward said. "Everyone has been very nice. I feel like that doesn't get a lot of attention."

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox