I received an email Monday from the St. Louis Cardinals saying, “limited tickets” were still available for Opening Day. My, how the mighty have fallen.
Yet, the excitement of Opening Day still exists. I sell celebrate it – especially since the Cardinals will again have three Black players on the first-game roster.
That was confirmed on Sunday when the team announced that Victor Scott II will be the Opening Day centerfielder. He will also receive an extended look during the early months of the season and need not fear demotion.
Joining him will be shortstop Masyn Winn, who is nursing a sore wrist, and outfielder Jordan Walker, who remains in search of steady offensive production.
Scott earned his introduction to the crowd while riding in a convertible at Busch Stadium on Thursday by hitting .349 in Spring Training with 15 hits, four home runs, seven RBIs, and five stolen bases.
While the preseason is certainly not the real thing, Scott’s spring totals surpassed what he accomplished during his entire 2024 53-game MLB campaign.
After a winter dedicated to improving his hitting and power statistics, Scott arrived in Jupiter, Florida knowing he must either impress the front office or be headed to Triple-A Memphis.
“It’s cool to be rewarded for hard work,” Scott told Katie Woo of The Athletic.
“It’s a testament to the work I put in there during this offseason, some of the studying I’ve done through the course of last year. To be able to apply it now, it’s pretty cool to see.”
Wynn returns as Opening Day shortstop after a solid rookie season. However, a bothersome wrist kept him out of a number of Spring Training games. He hit just .080 and drove in one run.
Walker will start most games in right field but must get his bat together to stay in the lineup – and in St. Louis as opposed to Memphis. He hit just .161 in Spring Training, with no home runs.
Hopefully, the Clydesdales circling the field will not be a high point of the season for the Cardinals. The team’s trio of Black starters will have a lot to say about the outcome of 2025.
The Reid Roundup
It did not take long for the “fire Dennis Gates” idiots to clutter social media and chat rooms following the Missouri Tigers disappointing setback to Drake in their first game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. “He’s a great recruiter but a terrible coach,” was a constant refrain. Too many Missouri fans have short memories – especially those with an obvious bias…My NCAA bracket blew up over the weekend. I doubted the SEC and it placed a record seven teams in the Sweet 16…And then there was one. Houston coach Kelvin Sampson is the only coach of color to reach the Sweet 16 in the tournament…Texas fired coach Rodney Terry after his team’s First Four exit from the tournament. Xavier’s Sean Miller will reportedly be hired…Larry Vickers, former coach of the HBCU Norfolk State women’s basketball team, is now in charge of the SEC’s Auburn Tigers. Norfolk State won three consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships, which earned NCAA tournament appearances… F1 championship driver Lewis Hamilton’s debut season with Ferrari has been semi-disastrous. He finished 10th in the Australian Grand Prix and followed that up Sunday with a disqualification in the Chinese Grand Prix for “a breach in technical regulations.” Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc was also DQ’d after his car was found underweight…With the Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series race moving to September, WWT Raceway will host the IndyNXT series featuring upcoming Indy car racers on June 15. Myles Rowe, the circuit’s only Black driver, finished fourth in the season-opening St. Petersburg, Florida race on March 2. He is currently fourth in the driver’s standings…The Frozen Four men’s hockey tournament is headed to St. Louis April 10-12, and four outstanding Black players could reach Enterprise Center. Trey Augustine, a sophomore goaltender for Michigan State, Maine sophomore defenseman Albin Boija, and Jacob Fowler, a Boston College sophomore defenseman, were finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which goes to the season’s top player.