Wrapping up the Waino Weekend: Photos, Interviews and News 10-1-23

stlsportspage

2 years ago

Compiled by Staff

This weekend was the Adam Wainwright Show. It has been such a dismal season that there are no playoffs to be preparing for but St. Louis lost another of its icons to retirement. After Yadier Molina and Albert Pujols last year, Wainwright , who the the fans will always remember as Waino tipped his cap for the last time as a player on the St. Louis Cardinals. To Read Rob’s game story: CLICK HERE.

If you missed Rob Rains’ tribute to Wainwright, with many players giving their emotional stories of what he meant to them, CLICK HERE.

Wainwright was honored in a pre-game ceremony before the final game of the season Sunday. The ceremony began at 1:30 p.m. with the game’s first pitch scheduled for 2:15. Miles Mikolas was the winning pitcher in the 4-3 win over the Reds.

To hear Oli Marmol and Adam Wainwright after the game, click the audio player below:

Oliver Marmol

Adam Wainwright

This was the view from the press box of Wainwright and his family and friends during the ceremony on Sunday.

Keep reading for more on Sunday’s tribute.

It’s been quite a weekend. Friday night it looked like the Reds were going to rain on the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright parade as they pounded the Cardinals 19-2, but it wasn’t all bad for those at Busch.

Fans who came to the game on Friday were rewarded by getting to set a pinch-hit at-bat for Adam Wainwright.

Saturday- The Concert

Saturday was full of fireworks and song– and a Cardinals win.

The Cardinals scored five runs in each of the first two innings and went on to beat the Reds 15-6 on Saturday night at Busch Stadium, eliminating the Reds from the wild-card playoff chase. Lars Nootbaar hit a three-run homer and Jose Fermin also drove in three runs. For Rob Rains game story CLICK HERE.

After the game Wainwright, backed up by his band of two musicians/producers put on a post-game concert.

Fans were treated to two of the songs that will be on his new soon-to-be-released album and one special song that he said he wrote just for them. Continue reading to find out how you can get songs for free with a special offer that ends at midnight on Sunday.

After the concert, Wainwright counted down and there was a fireworks show, capping off a very special day for the retiring Cardinals hurler, his family, teammates, and fans. He had three suites of special people at the ballpark on Saturday: his family, his teammates, and Big League Impact, his charity.

It was a night Adam Wainwright will oot soon forget.

Less than a year ago, in the off-season Wainwright recorded his first “album” in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. To read about that, CLICK HERE.

It was the plan all along to play his last season here and then release the album at the end of the season. Unfortunately the season did not go as everyone had wished for the popular pitcher but the fact that he finally got his 200th win and the Cardinals had set up this “goodbye weekend” it turned out in the best way it could for him.

A large group of fans stayed after thge game and were not disappointed whe he showed up out of the right field wasll in a truck and did a “victory lap” around the field, smiling and waving to the fans.

He was introduced, not as Adam Wainwright the St. Louis Cardinals but as Adam Wainwirght the “recording artist” and met with a rousing round of applause and enthusiastic cheering.

Many of his family members and teammates had assembled on the field to get an up-close and personal view of the show that was about to take place. They are shown in the photo with him in the truck.

Anyone at the concert could tell it was the thrill of his life, as Wainwright was practically gushing about his love for the fans. He thanked the fans numerous times telling them “I love you” over and over.

Probably the most loved song of the three he performed was called “Hey Y’all” and it had a great hook to it. Fans were clearly loving it and the audio sound came out perfect. He sounded like he was a seasoned Nashville professional on that song and country music lovers could see how it could become a big hit– regardleess of the support of the Cardinals fans, but it is just the kind of fun music that country fans love.

He even wrote a song in tribute to the fans, which had the stadium audio been a little better, would have certainly broght a tear to the eye of many. It was called “Time to Fly” and talked about how he knew it was his time to leave and that he wold take the love of the fans ad the Cardinals with him .

To hear a portion of the song (realizing it was recorded on a cell phone) click the video player below.

For more information on Wainwright’s music go to: AdamWainwrightMusic.com

Special to Cardinal Fans from Adam Wainwright:

For a limited time you have exclusive access to two songs from Adam Wainwright! Just fill out the form on hs AdamWainwrightMusic.com page and hit submit!

These songs will only be available until midnight (Sunday Oct. 1, 2023!

Sunday- The Tribute Ceremony

The Cardinals beat the Reds 4-3 on Sunday. Wainwright came out of the dugout and after everyone congratulated the players on the win they all hugged Waino on his last moments as a player on the turf of Busch Stadium.

The day started off on a great note with fans standing in line from an early hour to get the special promotional Adam Wainwright guitar.

Even though the game was sold out, it appeared everyone at the game got a guitar. At one point during the game the announcer asked everyone to pull out their guitars and play together.

Before the game started there was a ceremony to honor Wainwright. The biggest cheers of the day was the surprise announcement that both Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina showed up to support him.

It was general knowledge that Puols would be there but rumors were that Molina was not coming so it was a big moment when they both came. out.

Chris Carpenter spoke at the ceremony. He gave a very heartfelt account of what Wainwright mean to him. He told about how he, as a professional was asked to help the new, young pitcher, but in the end it was Wainwright who made a profound difference in his life. Wainwright reciprocated the compliments in saying how much Carpenter had helped him.

Albert Pujols also spoke, as did Bill DeWitt Sr., Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozeliak.

After all the speeches, Wainwright got up and addressed the crowd.

He did a pretty good job of expressing his appreciation and love for the fans without getting too emotional. The only time he almost lost it was when he was introducing his family. He mentioned his wife Jenny and their children and then went to his mother, saying what a great mom she had been ever since his father left the famiy when he was three years old. The last person he wanted to mention was his brother, Trey, who has served as a kind of a surrogate father to him and made some sacrifices to help raise him. “He taught me the curve ball,” he said after composing himself enough to talk about him.

There were parting gifts which included a $100,000 donation from the Cardinals and Cardinals Care to Water Missions International, as well as he and Yadi got matching silver bowls. The highlight of the gifts was a puppy that his family had been wanting for a long time. The story went that they would get a puppy when he retired and it was brought up again last year when he decided to play another year. The Cardinals said they had to clear it with Jenny before surprising Adam with the puppy.

After the game was over the players lingered on the field a bit longer and all talked to him being sure to each come up to him as he left the field. It was very emotional for all. He held his final media interview as a player and we were there for that just as we were there for his first one.

The season is officially over. For those of you who will be coming to our End of the Season Party, we’ll see you Monday night. If you have not RSVP’d you must email us to let us know you want to come. Email: STLSportsPage@gmail.com