John Lackey toasted the camera from the stands in his return to Wrigley Field

The 2016 Cubs will always be heroes in Chicago. Breaking a 108-year World Series drought was no easy task, but they did it and will forever reap will the rewards.

One of the newest retirees from that group is John Lackey, whose 15-year career ended in 2017. How has he spent his first year with no baseball since childhood? Dressing up for horse races, spending quality time with his kids and adopting an adorable dog, naturally.

Lackey couldn't quit the baseball bug entirely though, so when longtime pal and rotationmate Jon Lester's turn in the Cubs rotation came up for Thursday's 3-0 win, Lackey paid his old stomping grounds a visit. The Cubs took notice and aired a short video tribute to him on the scoreboard, which Lackey acknowledged with a cheers to the cameraman:

The crowd gave Lackey a nice hand, which seems fair for a pitcher who threw 188 1/3 innings of 3.35 ERA ball in a championship season.

It looks like Lackey's doing well, but let's just hope that his retirement is also full of delicious fried chicken.