Last week, on September 18th exactly, Adam Wainwright got his 200th career victory against the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite what has been an abysmal season for Waino and the Cardinals, he was able to pull the milestone that he had been struggling to get for the majority of the year, 200 career Ws on the back of his baseball card. He did that by having far in a way his best start of the year, pitching seven scoreless innings against the Brew Crew and only allowing four hits with two walks while striking out three. For what has been easily the worst possible swan song you could possible imagine, Adam Wainwright at least has the chance to literally end his career with one last great start before heading off into retirement.
It’s certainly no doubt that Adam Wainwright will go down as one of the best players and pitchers in Cardinals history. He ranks third of all time in wins as a Cardinal, he represents terrific class and leadership throughout his tenure, was part of easily the best pitcher-catcher combo ever with Yadier Molina, and was also responsible of leading St. Louis to a World Series title in 2006. With the exception of the deal with Lou Brock, the trade for Wainwright from his hometown in the Atlanta Braves would probably go down as perhaps the best trade in St. Louis Cardinals history. No doubt that the moment he become eligible, he will certainly being wearing that red jacket in Cooperstown in St. Louis. However, how about Cooperstown overall?
With the amount of pitchers that are discussed today to be almost certain Hall of Famers such as Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, and Justin Verlander, how about Adam Wainwright? Plenty of folks would likely call blasphemy but there are actually a number of decent facts to support this argument. And these are also the kind of facts that we are likely not going to see for a very long time at least. With Adam Wainwright throwing perhaps his final game in his terrific career with the St. Louis Cardinals, now is the time to answer the question as to whether or not he deserves to be in the hall of fame? First, let’s take a trip down memory lane!
Back in 2000, Adam was picked by the Atlanta Braves and 29th overall in the first round of the MLB Draft. It was in December 2003 where Wainwright got traded to the Cardinals along with pitchers Jason Marquis and Ray King in exchange for veteran outfielder J.D. Drew and utility player Eli Marrero. It was then that Wainwright spent the next two years in the minor league with the Memphis Redbirds, attempted to build himself up as being a top starting pitcher in the Major Leagues for years to come. He’d make his major league debut in late 2005 and would work towards his first full season in 2006.
However, despite being a big pitching piece in 2006, Wainwright’s role wasn’t necessarily as a starter but as a reliever. Things got even more complicated and interesting for Wainwright when he found himself as a last minute closer at the tail end of 2006, with long-time Cardinal closer Jason Isringhausen undergoing season-ending hip surgery. With the Cardinals playoff hopes crumbling in the final week of September, on the verge of blowing an eight plus game lead in their division, Wainwright was able to save two crucial games on September 27th and 30th, which was able to hold off the second place Houston Astros and help the Cardinals secure the NL Central title for a second straight year and fifth of the last seven years. Despite having minimal experience in the closing role, Adam Wainwright was able to get the job done when it mattered the most in the playoffs. He would go on to get the final out in the NLDS against the Padres, the NLCS against the Mets (with the sickest curveball ever thrown), and the World Series against the Detroit Tigers to help the Cardinals land their 10th World Series championship in franchise history.
After 2006, it was then that Adam Wainwright moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation. His first ever career Major League start occurred on April 6th, 2007 against the Astros with Yadier Molina being the starting catcher. Wainwright would go seven innings and allow only run, enough to hand the Cardinals their first win of that season and the first win in Waino’s career as a starter. While 2007 would ultimately be a very down year for the Cardinals, with a poor 78-84 record, it help showcased that Adam Wainwright was an ace in the making for St. Louis.
Aside from 2011 where he would miss the whole season due to Tommy John Surgery (which the Cardinals would end up winning it all once again) along with missing the majority of 2015 and 2018 due to injuries, you’d be hard pressed to find a pitcher in St. Louis for the last two decades that was not named Chris Carpenter leave such a great lasting impact with the players and fans.
He had plenty of achievements throughout his career! 3x All-Star appearances, 2x Gold Gloves, 2x World Series champions, 2x NL Wins leader, finished in the top three CY Young votes four times, the Roberto Clemente Award and a Silver Slugger award! You can’t also forget being among the best in Cardinals history in wins, games, innings pitch, and strikeouts. With the exception of Lou Brock and possibly even Nolan Arenado, you would also be hard pressed to name a trade that has influenced the St. Louis Cardinals throughout their history this greatly.
Everything that I’ve mentioned thus far would at least be enough to consider a nomination to the Hall of Fame in the coming years but there are two main reasons why there could be a strong argument for Wainwright being a legit candidate in being a part of Cooperstown. These are two major accomplishments he achieved that may not be done for a long time and possibly ever. Those two being the most successful battery in major league history and possibly also being the last pitcher to ever achieve 200 wins!
The first point is most likely to never be replicated. It’s no secret that a key component to the success that Adam Wainwright has had in his career was his perfect chemistry with likely future hall of fame catcher Yadier Molina. Those who shared a dynamic duo that we will likely never see in baseball again. And that duo came into full fruition in 2022. On May 15th, the two made history by claiming their 203rd win together, becoming the most successful battery in MLB history. Later that season on September 14th, they set the ultimate MLB record by starting alongside one another for the 325th game, surpassing Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan of the Tigers for the most starts by a battery in MLB history. With the way baseball is more scripted, analytic driven, and contract crazy, there’s no chance we will see a pairing like Waino and Yadi anytime soon.
The second point is that there could be a good chance that Adam Wainwright could potentially be the final pitcher to ever gain 200 wins in his big league career. Once again, we live in an age where analytics, numbers, and statistics are the main driving force in baseball. Because of that, pitchers are throwing harder than ever and don’t go deep into games as much anymore due to circumstances such as throwing too many pitches by the fifth inning or refusing to go third time through the lineup. Wainwright remains among the last remains of big game pitchers. The kind of pitcher that will gladly take the ball and goes as deep as they can without worrying about pitch count or innings limit. The kind of pitcher that’s basically the anti-Logan Gilbert. You have to search hard to find them nowadays, especially with young guys, but Adam Wainwright easily remained among the last few. And because of that, who knows the next person that will come along with 200 wins. Perhaps Gerrit Cole will have it within him for the next five years along with another name or two but even then, Adam Wainwright remains among the last of his kind in baseball. The kind of bulldog work horses that will commit to giving you as much innings as you need with no complaints whatsoever.
Of course, there are plenty of reasons to not include Wainwright in the Hall of Fame. He was never able to win a Cy Young Award, was far from the greatest K machine in the world, and had too many uneven years for the second half of his career to put him up there as the top-tier modern day pitchers in his prime, on par with the likes of Kershaw, Scherzer, and Verlander. Because of those reasons and more, there’s no chance Wainwright will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and will take a longtime before he even becomes a consider candidate.
I don’t know how to answer the question of Adam Wainwright being deserving to be in Cooperstown that doesn’t come from a bias perspective. I’ve been a Cardinal fan almost my whole life and I’ve been watching Waino pitch since I was nine years old. I remember him coming up clutch to close out crucial games in the 2006 postseason to secure the team’s first World Series title in 24 years! I also remember him fitting comfortably into the starting rotation from day one and developing to being a terrific leader and dominant ace for many years to come! He’s been a face of the franchise for so long remains the last remaining member of the championship winning clubs of the 21st century for the Cardinals!
All of that and more will no doubt give Adam Wainwright the induction to the Cardinals Hall of Fame! When it comes to the actual Hall of Fame, that remains to be seen but I still think there should be some consideration when that time comes. Because, who knows when we will ever see history broken the way this man did throughout his career? Who knows when we will ever see another Adam Wainwright in baseball?
Regardless, thank you so much Waino for everything you have done in St. Louis for the past 18 years! I hope you have a wonderful retirement! You will always be a Cardinal and a hall of famer in my eyes!
Adam's Blog 