In his first full year as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, he made a bigger save than any of his players have ever made, that’s without a doubt!
He took over as the club’s interim skipper in July of 2022, they finished that season with a record of 92-70, second place in the AL East Division. They were swept by the Seattle Mariners in the first round of the best-of-three Wild Card round!
John Schneider was attending his first spring training as the team’s manager so they nerves, well they were already high. Schneider and his wife were eating lunch together in the Dunedin, Florida area when all of the sudden, a woman at the restaurant began to choke.
He quickly realized that this was a dire situation and that something needed to be done. Schneider jumped into action, got out of his seat and offered assistance. He starting performing the Heimlich maneuver which ultimately saved this woman’s life.
After all was said and done, what did he receive? A FREE BEER! Yeah, pretty cool right? Here’s what he had to say about the life-saving moment, reported by Yahoo.
“I learned it [the Heimlich maneuver] in like sixth grade, and I hadn’t done it since,” Schneider said. “So it was just like, ‘I think I remember how to do this,’ and I’m a bigger guy — so I think that kind of helped a bit.”
He also added that it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as some of the movies make it seem…
“It wasn’t like a movie. It wasn’t like across the table. It just came up naturally, I guess. But it wasn’t like popping a bottle of champagne,” Schneider detailed.
Schneider was born and raised in New Jersey and was actually drafted back in 2002 by the team that he now manages, the Toronto Blue Jays. Wouldn’t hurt to maybe give him a little love from the crowd when he’s introduced at Citizens Bank Park on May 9th and May 10th when the Blue Jays visit the Philadelphia Phillies.