Glory Beyond the Game
When considering the big dreams that were planted as seeds in the Golden Isles, it would be impossible to overlook the amazing baseball career of Glynn Academy alumnus Adam Wainwright. The feet of his long and lanky 6’7” frame have been placed firmly in his hometown of St. Simons Island and St. Louis, Missouri with his former team, the Cardinals, and have made quite an impression. Although Adam’s recent retirement is well-known, he’s still quite busy in the post-season and is working in the broadcast booth for FOX Sports coverage of the MLB playoffs at the time of writing, so we reached out to his mother, Nancy, to share a look back at his years playing ball. She graciously sent us loads of photos that include the days he was learning from his older brother Trey with the pitching mound and net they built in the backyard through school and community traveling teams all up to the family’s experience at the retirement ceremony held by the Cardinals before Adam’s final game with the team on October 1.
That ceremony capped a remarkable run of 18 MLB seasons, all played with the St. Louis Cardinals, for the man we affectionately call Waino or Uncle Charlie. The last two seasons have been particularly memorable. On May 15, 2022, Adam and catcher Yadier Molina recorded their 203rd win together, making them the most successful battery in MLB history. On September 14, 2022, Yadi and Adam made history again by playing their 325th game together, the most of any MLB battery, in the final year of Molina’s career. Earlier this year, Adam represented the United States in the World Baseball Classic and announced that this would be his last season with the MLB. He celebrated his 200th win in the final game he pitched for the Cardinals on September 18, only weeks before the retirement ceremony.
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Adam’s career has unquestionably been a resounding success. From the very beginning, it was certainly lucrative, as his initial contract when he signed with the Atlanta Braves right out of high school as the 29th pick overall in the first round of the 2000 amateur draft included a $1.25 million bonus. It was after the Braves traded Adam to the St. Louis Cardinals and he made his MLB debut in 2005 that his career really took off. If you want to measure in terms of gold, point to the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards he received in 2009 and 2013. If you want to look at silver, there’s the Silver Slugger Award he earned in 2017 as the National League’s top-hitting pitcher. If jewelry is what you go by, Adam has two World Series rings. One of these for his unforgettable pitching in 2006 when he struck out the NY Mets’ Roberto Clemente in Game 7 to earn the Cards their berth in World Series followed by their Game 5 win over the Detroit Tigers when Waino struck out Brandon Inge. While he didn’t pitch a single game of the 2011 World Series, having missed the season due to Tommy John surgery, he was still valuable to the team as a spiritual leader.
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Anyone who knows Adam knows that he serves as a spiritual leader every day, whether on the field or in the fields, on the bench or in a pew, at home and away—wherever those places might be. That’s what earned him another impressive piece of hardware in 2020: the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award which is bestowed annually to the MLB player who “best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” At the time he was announced as the recipient, Adam called it “the greatest honor of my entire career.” He was recognized in large part for the work that Big League Impact, the charity he founded in 2013 has been doing to provide basic resources, including food, clean water, medical care, and shelter, to those in need around the globe. Big League Impact and Adam, personally, have worked with Water Missions International and helped build the Ferrier Village Secondary School in Haiti, as well as supported many charitable, athletic, and educational causes in the St. Louis and Golden Isles communities. From acting as a role model for younger players to funding baseball fields to providing food and educational partnerships for students through farming, Adam is the very embodiment of values honored by the Roberto Clemente Award.
Those values are at the very heart of what’s most important to Adam and the Wainwright family. It’s something Adam references in his many autographs: Bible verse Acts 20:24. He has paraphrased that scripture and summarized it as “his purpose” in many interviews over the years, saying, "My life means nothing to me unless I carry out the work given to me by God, the work of telling others the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and God's mighty kindness and love." An active member and advocate of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Adam openly and unapologetically gives all the glory to God and expresses his gratitude for the unwavering support of his family. With the same fervor he has in the broadcast booth or in his always entertaining interviews, he shares his faith by speaking at churches, leading Bible studies, and through other opportunities to address Christian conferences and community organizations. While Adam’s stats and career achievements on the diamond as an MLB pitcher and player are remarkable, there is a larger picture for him and much more he’d like to do to make the world a better place for all.
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Adam’s devotion to his family is equally strong. Mother Nancy and brother Trey are still right by his side as they have been since those early days when he dreamed of playing for the Braves. He and his high school sweetheart, Jenny Curry, married in 2004 and have added daughters Baylie Grace, Addison Morgan, Macy James, and Sadee Faith and son Caleb Adam to the brood since then. If you follow Uncle Charlie’s Twitter account or happen to be in the neighborhood where they’re trick-or-treating, you might have seen the family fantastic Halloween costumes they wear each year. Past themes have included Star Wars, Peter Pan, the Avengers, and Toy Story, so it’s anyone’s guess what’s next. What we really want to see is whether the newest Wainwright family member: Louie, the Lagotto Romagnolo puppy that the team gave to Adam during his retirement ceremony, gets in on the act!
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Whether you’re a baseball fan or not, and even if you root for the Braves, Cubs, or Yankees instead of the Cardinals, it’s been easy to be a fan of #50 for all he does and all he is. This community is so lucky to be a place that the Wainwrights call home and to have been the starting point on the path of his success, however it is measured. Thank you, Adam, for giving us a glimpse inside the world of baseball dreams come true and for encouraging big dreams in others.
