Former Cardinals Gold Glove winner turned foe unceremoniously retires

If you were a member of the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals, you may want to make sure your agent hasn't incorrectly filed any retirement paperwork.

Just weeks after former ace Carlos Martinez hung up his cleats, Jason Heyward is doing the same. The 36-year-old outfielder spent 16 years in the majors, winning five Gold Gloves and a World Series ring.

He spent just one lone year in the Gateway City, but he was a memorable contributor to one of the best Cardinals teams this century.

Jason Heyward retires after up-and-down 16-year career in MLB

In his first five seasons in Atlanta, he racked up 23.0 bWAR, slashing .262/.351/.429 (117 wRC+) while winning the first two of five career Gold Gloves.

In Nov. 2014, just one year out from free agency, Atlanta dealt Heyward to the Cardinals for a package highlighted by Shelby Miller. For Atlanta, the hope was that they'd find a long-term ace. For St. Louis, Heyward had to replace the late Oscar Taveras, who tragically died in a car accident just a month earlier.

The team responded well to that adversity, winning 100 games and the top NL playoff seed in a dominant regular season performance. That record was even more impressive when you factor in that the NL Central was the best division in baseball by a considerable margin that year, featuring the 98-win Pirates and 97-win Cubs.

Heyward thrived in his lone season with the Redbirds, accruing a career-best 7.0 bWAR and hitting for a .797 OPS (122 wRC+) in 2015. He was also phenomenal in the playoffs, posting a 1.080 OPS against the Cubs in a stunning NLDS loss.

Expectations were high that the Cardinals would re-up with their star right fielder, but his contract projections started to get unwieldy. Eventually, the Cubs added insult to injury, signing their archrival's star free agent. To this day, it remains the largest deal in Cubs history: $184 million, spread out over eight years.

His legacy in Chicago is very complicated, featuring multiple Gold Gloves and one of the most famous sports speeches of all time during the 2016 World Series. However, he hit just .245/.323/.377 (88 wRC+) in their uniform, hardly the type of production you'd expect from someone making $23 million per year.

Heyward was eventually cut loose with a few years remaining on his contract, and he spent some time with the Dodgers, Astros, and Padres in the interim between then and now. He retires at 36 years old as one of the most impactful defenders in recent history, with a ring 108 years in the making to show for it.