Adam Wainwright’s retirement tour didn’t even start on the mound.
His final Opening Day wasn’t like six others throughout the 41-year-old’s career, when he was the Cardinals’ starter, but instead, Wainwright sang the national anthem before St. Louis faced the Blue Jays at Busch Stadium.
It appeared as if Wainwright surprised some of his Cardinals teammates, too.
He stood next to them along the first-base line — with the Blue Jays similarly aligned along the opposite base path — and waited as the public address announcer introduced the national anthem singer.
Wainwright then stepped back from the line and strolled toward a microphone placed between two guitarists.
“I went a little slower than I wanted to go …,” Wainwright said after the Cardinals’ 10-9 Opening Day loss, according to Bally Sports Midwest. “Very tough. Props to anyone who does that, because it’s very tough with the delay. You sing it, and then you hear yourself sing it a whole second and a half later and then you start listening to yourself and then it slows your tempo down.
“That’s what happened to me today. It shows my rookie self.”
According to MLB.com, Wainwright has aspired to become a country singer following his retirement and performed a concert earlier this year — with an audience of approximately 500 in Springfield, Ill.
That concert lasted about 90 minutes, according to Bally Sports, and Fox 2 reported that Wainwright recorded 17 original songs in Alabama during the offseason.
The original plan wasn’t for Wainwright to sing Thursday, though.
When he was slated as the starting pitcher, two of his songwriters were going to sing as the team honored his legacy, and Wainwright initially turned down the invitation — before calling back 10 minutes later and accepting — once an injury altered those pitching plans, Wainwright told reporters.
Wainwright’s decision to retire following the 2023 season dated back to October, when he revealed his end-of-career plans and signed a final contract that’d allow him to pitch his last year with the only MLB team he has ever known.
But a groin strain sustained during the World Baseball Classic delayed his 2023 debut, sending Wainwright to the 15-day injured list and preventing him from making a seventh — and final — Opening Day start.
In his previous six Opening Day outings, Wainwright went 3-1 with two no-decisions.
“It’s disappointing, Wainwright told reporters last week, according to ESPN. “I wanted to start [Opening Day]. I wanted to pitch a full season this year, but I’d like a full postseason more than I’d like a full April.”
The Blue Jays defeated the Cardinals, 10-9, as St. Louis blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning, allowing Toronto to score the game-tying and game-winning runs on an infield single and sacrifice fly, respectively.
