“We want to love people not just with our words but with our actions. We want to come alongside them.”
One of the most respected Major League Baseball pitchers of his generation—the only rookie to close a World Series in the 21st century—Adam Wainwright spent his 18-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Now he wants to spend the rest of his life helping others.
The Roberto Clemente Award winner’s Instagram account says it all: “Follower of Jesus. husband, daddy, outdoor lovin’, country music singin’, fantasy football dominatin’, STL pitchin’, Georgia boy.”
Nicknamed “Waino” by his first St. Louis Cardinal locker neighbor, Alan Benes, and “Uncle Charlie” for his threatening signature curveball, Adam has dedicated countless hours of his own time and called on many of his big-league friends to help him help others.
It all began in 2013 when Adam started Big League Impact by hosting its inaugural fantasy football event, Waino’s World, and raising more than $110,000 for St. Louis nonprofit Operation Food Search and international clean water-engineering organization, Water Mission. That event sparked a movement that has connected the passion of sports fans with the charitable causes that matter most to the players they admire. Since 2013, the organization has worked with dozens of MLB players and built a platform of campaigns and events from coast to coast that has turned celebrity influence into real-world impact. And they’ve raised more than $11 million for their efforts.
“Our other mission is to inspire players to use their platforms purposefully to make a difference,” Adam says.
But Waino didn’t stop there. Two years ago, he launched MISSION 3:18 which encourages pro athletes to use their platforms to establish a legacy of service. In 2024, 57 players and 12 media and support staff members from nine MLB teams gave more than 275 hours across 40 service outings in 20 cities.
It doesn’t state so on the 3:18 website, but the name comes from the scripture 1 John 3:18: “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
“We’re not overtly in your face with our faith, but we want people to ask what it means. We want them to see it in what we do. And it’s because I’ve been given a lot that I believe much is required of me.”
Big League Impact also dedicated significant charitable efforts to organizations such as Crisis Aid International.
Today, Uncle Charlie also operates 5 Oaks Farm, a regenerative agricultural endeavor that he says he hopes will alleviate food insecurity in his hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. Brunswick has a significant poverty rate of 29.23 percent, higher than the national average.
Treating the farm as a classroom, the mission of 5 Oaks Farm is to cultivate the “soil” of the community: feeding families that are often overlooked, mentoring students like young saplings and calling neighbors together to take care of one another and the garden where God has placed us.
When 5 Oaks collects donations to feed the community, it doubles the impact by matching every dollar with an in-kind donation of its own ensuring every family has the chance to enjoy healthy, farm-fresh food.
The Cardinals great-turned-country-music-singer also hosted the first-ever Big League Bash at The Factory in July to benefit Big League Impact. Waino released his first studio album “Hey Y’all” last year after retiring in 2023 as the Cardinals’ franchise’s third-winningest pitcher.
So far, Waino has debuted at the Grand Ole Opry and opened for the Zac Brown Band and Travis Tritt separately.
Adam says his and his wife’s faith in Christ infuses everything they do. The high school sweethearts were initially inspired to give back when they participated in a water mission. “We realized the impact that it made. Twenty-five hundred people will have clean water for the rest of their lives. People don’t realize that they could drink water out of a toilet and it would be cleaner than the water most people in the world actually drink.”
He says Jesus’ words in the 25th chapter of the book of Matthew keep them going: “’For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…’”
“That’s who we are right there,” Adam says. “We want to be on a mission wherever we go.”
“We want to be on a mission wherever we go.” ~Adam Wainwright
"I was hungry and you gave me food."