Hochman: Cardinals' Victor Scott II continues special bond with 4th grade teacher even today (2024)

On the day of the Cardinals’ home opener, after Victor Scott II went around the field in the pregame parade — and then around the bases to score his first run at Busch Stadium — he found himself being circled. The local media surrounded the instantly popular 23-year-old rookie for a postgame interview. Scott was asked about the people who came to St. Louis to watch him play.

“Mom, dad, cousins, other cousins on other the side, my fourth grade teacher,” he said. “A lot of people that have helped me get to this moment.”

Wait — fourth grade teacher?

Sure enough, Scott has an everlasting connection with his fourth grade teacher, Erin Larkin, from his school in Marietta, Georgia.

“Dowell Elementary,” Larkin said by phone in a sweet Southern accent. “Spelled ‘do well’ but pronounced ‘Dowell.’”

Scott, as many around the Cards can attest, is humble and kind — in other words, the type of person who would’ve connected with an elementary school teacher and stayed in touch.

“He’s just a good kid — there’s no arrogance to him,” said Larkin, who is in her 28th year of teaching. “He’s just the same kid. And I told him (in St. Louis), ‘Just keep being you — don’t ever change.’ He always had a smile on his face (when he was in fourth grade). And whatever it was, whether it was academics, sports, whatever, he always gave his best. His parents, the expectation was — whatever your best is, you do your best. And everybody loved him. ... He just enjoyed life and just had a positive outlook on life, even as a 9-year-old or 10-year-old.”

With Tommy Edman injured, Scott has started all 11 games in center for the Cardinals so far. He’s a delight to watch. He plays baseball with a zest as he zips around the outfield or the bases.

Per Statcast, Scott leads every player in baseball in sprint speed (30.1 feet per second). On Monday, he stole a base on the first pitch he could — and after his safe slide, the stadium PA played Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On.”

And while Scott isn’t hitting like he did, say, in Class A Peoria last year, Cardinals manager Oli Marmol still is impressed with Scott’s at-bats. He said Scott is making smart plate decisions and swings, just not connecting well enough — yet.

And as Scott is playing center, it’s as if he’s paying homage to Willie McGee or Jim Edmonds or Harrison Bader. In Saturday’s win, for instance, he chased down a ball in deeeeep center for a snag.

“He made that look easy — how many guys gets that ball?” Marmol asked.

Scott bonded with Larkin in fourth grade — as did his parents. He would stay for an after-school program, and Larkin would connect with his parents, Victor and Mary, when they picked him up. Larkin sometimes even attended his youth baseball games.

“His mom and I exchanged phone numbers,” Larkin said. “And she works for Kroger (grocery stores), up in corporate, and when they had extra food, she would donate it to my class for me to share with my students. And so we just kind of kept the relationship going.”

Larkin adores sports, notably those played by students from McEachern High School, where she attended school and her dad was the athletics director (“Blue and gold runs in our blood,” she said). Scott became a breakout baseball star at McEachern before his time at West Virginia University and then — after being drafted in the fifth round in 2020 — the Cardinals organization.

But in the past two offseasons, “I brought it upon myself to want to go read to her kids,” Scott said of Larkin’s recent fourth grade classes. “And just to be in my past school system and kind of be present in those kids’ lives. I want to just show them that whatever their dreams are, it’s possible.”

Scott brought autographed baseballs for every student in the class and passed them out individually so each kid would have a memory made. He read a book called “Batter Up Wombat” to the class. And Scott happily answered questions.

“They want to hear what it was like when he was in school,” Larkin said. “And he talks to them about being successful in whatever they choose to do, whether it’s college, whether it’s military, whether it’s just going into the working world. It’s having him talk with them about working hard. Kids these days, they want everything quickly and without a lot of effort. And obviously Victor had to put in a lot of effort to get to the level where he is.

“They’ll ask questions like, ‘How much do you make? What kind of car do you drive?’ And he laughed, ‘Well, I don’t have a cool car yet.’ They all wanted his autograph. And then when he came back this year, my kids from last year who were in fifth grade, he went down to visit them — and they went crazy. Some of them had him sign their shoes. One of them wanted him to sign their forehead. I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I hope you didn’t sign their forehead!’”

The 2024 Cardinals opened at the Dodgers and Padres. One night during a game, Larkin’s daughter, Kerrigan, realized her mom was crying.

“I was crying happy tears,” Larkin said. “Just seeing him and those dreams come to fruition. And all that his mom and dad have gone through? Both of my girls played travel softball. So I know what it’s like to get up early. You give up your life or your kids’ dreams.”

And for the Cardinals’ home opener, Larkin and her daughter were in the St. Louis stands — sitting with Scott’s mom, dad, cousins and other cousins on other the side.

“I love watching my students blossom into amazing adults,” Larkin said.