Column: Willson Contreras has a lot to learn about being a true villain with the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field

It’s not hard to become a villain at Wrigley Field, especially when you’re wearing a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.

The formula is pretty simple.

Be a star player. Have some big moments against the Cubs in Chicago. Rub it in their faces. Bonus points if you’ve ever been suspected of cheating.

Former Cubs catcher Willson Contreras happily accepted the challenge this week in his return to his old home, waving his arms in the air after getting on base Monday to coax Cubs fans into booing him louder.

It was entertaining to watch, unless perhaps you were the Cubs manager.

“Every team has a different celebration — that could be to his teammates,” a grumpy David Ross said after the game. “I don’t know who that’s for, so that’d be stupid to comment on.”

Baseball is entertainment, so kudos to Contreras for playing along and trying to breathe some life into a rivalry that has seen better days. Since Ryan Braun retired from the Milwaukee Brewers, Cubs fans have lacked a classic villain they greeted with boos in every at-bat. Christian Yelich is a poor man’s Braun and hasn’t hit well enough to be hated the last few years.

Whether Contreras can become an archvillain in Chicago after so many years of being a fan favorite remains to be seen. As former Cubs manager Joe Maddon once said of the 2016 team that won it all: “I think our guys are likable, so it’s hard to wear the black hat.”

But now that he’s gone, Contreras is at least willing to try it on and see if it fits.

Still, it will take a lot more than waving his arms in the air. It might even take some harsh words against the organization that let him go for draft pick compensation after three All-Star appearances.

Maybe Contreras could pronounce that Cubs President Jed Hoyer was crazy to let him go?

“No, there are no hard feelings,” Contreras said. “I understand this is a part of business. Last year I did everything I could for the Cubs and (did it) for 14 years (in the organization). I understood it was time to part ways, and no hard feelings against everybody.

“Life pulls you in different spots sometimes, and you have to accept it and keep going.”

Well, being pragmatic certainly won’t help if he wants Cubs fans to hate him.

Contreras told a media outlet in February that the Cardinals are a “better organization” than the Cubs, which was a good start. But he apologized Monday for the comment without even being asked about it.

“If I did something in the past that (hurt) some fans’ feelings or people’s feelings, I really apologize,’’ he said. “But I would never say anything against the Chicago Cubs or even anything against the fan base.”

Wrong again, Willson. Being a villain means never having to say you’re sorry.

Contreras might have to study the careers of Braun, Yelich, Jim Edmonds and other opposing players whose mere presence at Wrigley Field elicited a cascade of boos.

Edmonds perfected the role of the anti-Cub in the early 2000s, aided by a feud instigated by Carlos Zambrano, who yelled at the Cardinals outfielder during a 2004 game as Edmonds jogged around the bases after hitting a home run onto Sheffield Avenue.

Zambrano was later suspended for throwing at Edmonds. Four years later they shared a clubhouse when the Cubs picked up the veteran outfielder off waivers from the San Diego Padres.

Prompted by the media, the two hugged it out in the clubhouse upon Edmonds’ arrival, and they coexisted for five months.

“Like one of my teammates told me the other day, you may hate him when he plays with the opposite team, but you love him when he plays for your team,” Zambrano said that day.

Cubs fans were ambivalent about Edmonds upon first glance. He received a standing ovation in his first at-bat as a Cub at Wrigley, then was booed later in the game. Edmonds blamed the media for stoking the fire.

“I just play the game,” he said. “I’m over trying to guess why people do what they do. It’s frustrating.”

Edmonds clearly didn’t want to remain a villain in the town where he now played, but he had a hard time shedding the taint of being a Cardinals antagonist.

“When you play for St. Louis, it can’t get much more of a rivalry,” he said. “It’s hard for people to accept the fact you’re a human being, just doing a job. That’s just the nature of the beast.

“It’s baseball, that’s the way I look at it. It’s a job. It’s not life or death. I have kids at home. We’re at war. We’re trying to select a president, and this is just a job.”

Edmonds got over the pain of being booed, and Cubs fans gradually accepted him when he performed well on a division-winning team. But many still remember him as a classic Cardinals villain, a role Contreras now hopes to emulate.

Maybe he’ll get the hang of it by the time the Cardinals return to Wrigley in July.

Now that he’s no longer catching, he’ll have plenty of time to work on it.