EXCLUSIVE: How World Series champ Adam Wainwright transitioned from baseball to ‘making cool country music’

Star pitcher Adam Wainwright retired last October after 18 years with the St. Louis Cardinals for an unconventional reason: He “got a puppy!” At least, that was the “reason” he listed for the big decision on the official paperwork.

It was true: The Cardinals had presented him with a Lagotto Romagnolo puppy, Louie, during a ceremony before his final game in the majors, helping him to fulfill a promise to his kids that he’d get them a dog when he hung up his cleats.

But his plans for his post-baseball life included more than playing fetch with Louie. He was already preparing for his new career as a country music artist, which he previewed for Cardinals fans in a postgame concert the same weekend.

The performance served as a teaser for what was to come. Earlier this year Wainwright, 42, made his Grand Ole Opry debut and released his first album, “Hey Y’all,” which he describes as a 1990s-country-style project. The Georgia native was guided on the album by Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Gary Baker, who’s penned songs for the likes of the Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees.

Not a bad second act for a ballplayer (now a Fox analyst) who in his career recorded 200 wins, a 3.53 ERA and a National League pennant-clinching strikeout of the New York Mets’ Carlos Beltran during the Cardinals’ World Series title run in 2006. (Despite that terrible moment in Mets history, Mets fans are actually nice to Wainwright — more on that below.)

Ahead of his performance on the 3rd hour of TODAY on July 8, Wainwright spoke with TODAY.com about his transition from baseball to music, how he defines success as a musician, and how Louie has become the “most beloved” member of his family.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Walk us through your journey from picking up a guitar and playing to where you are now with a debut album and performing on TODAY.

My wife gave me a guitar when I was in the very early stages of minor league baseball, in 2001, just as a hobby. When you play in the minor leagues 142 (games), I think, and in the big leagues 162 games a year, that’s a lot. And you can’t just do baseball all the time; you’ll drive yourself crazy. So I needed an outlet, and I was always singing songs to my wife, Jenny. And she said, “Why don’t you put some chords with this and let’s see what happens?”

So that’s kind of the very, very beginning. But then, as the years wore on, I would only play every now and then. As a pitcher, you can’t play too much. Tendons and ligaments are sore, and it just gets kind of tiring. But in 2015, I blew my Achilles out and I started playing a whole lot more. I started playing two to three hours a day, started singing a lot more, singing and playing all my favorite songs and stuff. I always kind of wrote poems and little things on the side and wrote songs but never put it to music.

And then I went to my friend Matt Holliday’s house, teammate of mine, in spring training one year — I think it was 2016 or 2017 — and played a bunch of songs for a few of our players that were there. And this guy was sitting beside me, Gary Baker (points to Baker) was sitting in the seats in front of me and I got done and he said, “You know, you’re not bad. We should make some music together.” And I kind of laughed. I’m thinking, I don’t even know who that is, you know? I thought it was just Matt’s neighbor. And I find out Gary’s pretty accomplished, Grammy winner. …

And so I figured that, you know, “I think you’re right. Maybe we should make some music together.” And so he said, “Hey, listen, if you ever write a song, send it to me. Let me know what you think.” It took me a couple years to kind of finally get up the gumption to do it. And in 2019 I finally woke up in the middle of the night with a song in my head. I had his email address and I put it on the thing real quick, sent it to him and went back to sleep. And I thought, “I don’t know why I just did that. That was crazy.”

We haven’t recorded that one just yet, but it led to conversations: “I like this part of it. I like that part. Keep sending me stuff.” And so then I send him a song called “One Day They Won’t.” And he called me five minutes after I sent it to him and he goes, “Do more of this kind of stuff. This is really good. We got something to work on here.” Him and (songwriter) Greg Barnhill sat down and I’d send them my songs and ideas, and they take a minor league songwriter and make it into big league stuff, you know, as a baseball reference.

For someone who’s familiar with you as a baseball player but not necessarily as a musician, how would you describe your music?

Well, I mean, when I write a song or come up with an idea, when I hear it in my head, it’s got a ‘90s country sound to it. That’s kind of how I was raised on — you know, I was born in 1981. But I fell in love with country in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. And that part of my life I really just studied that style so much. And so I would say that that’s kind of my style, is ‘90s country, mid-to-late-‘90s country style. But, you know, each one is different.

But I’ll tell you what: I loved the preparation behind baseball. I loved getting ready for a game and learning the hitters I was going to face. And in the same way in music, I love the preparation. I love writing and then coming up with cool ideas for a bridge or maybe changing the scene here or there and what kind of audience am I going to play to. I love that kind of stuff.

You just retired last fall and then months later you released your debut album. Was that intentional on your part? Was it a way for you to fill that void post-baseball?

It was intentional in that when I was playing baseball I wanted my fans and our team to know that I was 100% invested in baseball. They knew I was doing music stuff on the side in between. But that was my No. 1 priority, was honoring the Cardinals and our great fan base with the responsibility of being a top-flight pitcher. So when it was done, we kind of got to work real quick on recording and doing the stuff that we’ve been kind of working on as much as we could without being taken away from baseball.

To use a sports term, do you feel like you’re a rookie again?

Yes and no. I’m used to performing. Baseball players are performers at the end of the day. We just go out, we have to put on a good show. I love being in front of a crowd. The bigger the better. I feel more locked in when I play in front of a big crowd and even in music than I do when I’m playing in front of a small crowd. I played a small-crowd venue this year. It was by far my worst appearance I’ve done yet. And it was just like, I need to focus on, like, locking in for the small venues just like I do on a big one, you know?

But at the same time, I’m learning a whole lot as a rookie would, just getting thrown into the fire. One of my first appearances, bigger shows, was the Grand Ole Opry. And then learning when to put the guitar down and interact with the crowd more. I feel comfortable, but in a lot of ways I’m learning so much on the job.

You accomplished so much in your baseball career: 200 wins, World Series champion. That’s very successful for any baseball player. How do you define success as a musician?

That’s a good question. In some ways I don’t define it with album sales or streams. I find success in it because I love it and am having fun with it. And creating new sounds and new music — that’s a cool thing, coming up with an idea that you’re going, “Has anyone ever wrote this song?” “No, I don’t know if anyone’s ever wrote this song.” “Yeah, 12 people wrote that song.” “Aw, man.” And then you write another song and, “Has anyone ever wrote this song?” “Not sure.” “Yes, let’s dive into that.” And coming up with — I love turning a phrase. I heard Garth Brooks say turning a phrase is taking something somebody says and going, “I like that,” and then being able to write a song off of it. That’s one of my favorite ways to write.

I tell people when I go onstage: The World Series for me — Grand Ole Opry is maybe World Series — the other World Series for me would be standing onstage and singing to a crowd where everybody knew my songs and was singing back to me. That probably would mean success to me.

Because we’re in New York, I feel compelled to bring up the strikeout of Carlos Beltran in the NLCS. Still a lot of hard feelings (among Mets fans). Why should Mets fans give your music a chance?

Well, there’s been several Mets fans that have heard my music that have reached out to me and say, “It really hurts me to say this, but I like it. And I don’t say that lightly.” I love that kind of stuff.

Well, I mean, look: We’re making cool country music. And if you like kind of throwback ‘90s style, we got a seven-piece band, we got steel and fiddle in the band. We’re making authentic, real, cool country music. If you like that, then take the name out of it. Give us a chance.

I had a really cool moment last year playing at (the Mets’ ballpark) Citi Field. There’s a lot of heckling going on when I come in there. And I’m not a loved man, like you said, but it went quiet for a second. And this guy goes, “Hey, Wainwright!” And everybody looked at him and everybody in the dugout looked back, like, what’s this guy going to say? And he goes, “You ruined my life in the second grade!” And it was the best chatter ever, and it was such a cool moment for me. I loved it. It might be my favorite thing anyone’s ever said to me from the stands. But everyone just started dying laughing.

One final question: When you retired, the official reason you gave in the paperwork was you’d gotten a puppy. How’s the puppy doing?

He’s doing great. He’s the most beloved member of our family, I think. If I come in from a trip or if I come in from being gone all day, and I have Louie with me at the farm or something and I come in, everybody, as soon as we walk in the door, it’s not, “Hey, Dad!” anymore. It’s, “Louie!”

But he is my wife’s best buddy, which is big because for a long time she always told me we weren’t going to get a puppy until I was done playing, because she was like, “I’ve already got five kids to take care of when you’re on the road. I don’t need six kids to take care of when you’re on the road.” But we have embraced Louie as a family member and he is — I’m telling you — he is the most loved dog in the world.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com