Cardinals Legend Adam Wainwright Surprises Fans With Rousing Rendition Of National Anthem On Opening Day

When Adam Wainwright retires from baseball, which might be coming sooner than later, the next chapter of his life could come in front of a microphone. The 41-year-old Cardinals pitcher has the voice of an angel— who knew?!

Wainwright, a three-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove award-winner, and World Series champion has a love of music that resulted in a really special surprise on Opening Day. Shortly after both St. Louis and Toronto's lineups were introduced, it was time for the national anthem.

Where, typically, the team would announce an artist to come out and sing, things were a little bit different on Thursday. Wainwright stepped out of the player line on the first base side and walked over to home plate as the crowd went wild.

In lieu of a Grammy-nominated singer, or a local police officer, it was Wainwright who was tapped to belt out the ballad of patriotism. It was not announced beforehand, nor did anyone leak the plan.

The entire thing was kept under wraps and the Cardinals faithful couldn't have been more excited.

To make the anthem rendition even better, it wasn't just a gimmick. Wainwright has pipes!

In fact, over the last few years, Wainwright has been trying to make his passion into a reality.

Jenny, Adam's wife, gifted her husband with a guitar in 2001 while he was playing Single A ball in Georgia. He didn't play it often.

Adam Wainwright has since found a love for music!

Wainwright decided to start playing more often after he tore his achilles in 2015. And now, eight years later, the two-time NL wins leader has 14 original country songs ready to go that he plans to use for an album.

Here is a taste of "Sounds Real Good To Me" —

Here he is singing some Luke Bryan —

And earlier this year, Wainwright debuted a song about his old Jeep a charity event in Springfield, Illinois.

Wainwright has 2,147 career strikeouts through the 2022 season. He second only to Bob Gibson in Cardinals franchise history.

To say that he can pitch would be an understatement, but Wainwright can sing too!