DUNEDIN, Fla. –
In baseball, it’s usually the closer one that makes the save. In this case it was the manager who did the work.
Blue Jays skipper John Schneider recently helped a woman who was choking at a local restaurant by successfully using the Heimlich maneuver to remove a shrimp that was blocking her airflow.
“Right place, right time,” said Schneider on Sunday. “I just had lunch with (wife) Jess. You either help or you don’t, and I’ve decided I’ll go over and see if I can help.”
The incident happened about two weeks ago at a facility on the town’s main street, about two miles from the Blue Jays’ player development complex.
Others at the woman’s table were slow to respond, Schneider said, so he asked if he could help. Then the 43-year-old thought back to the first-aid training from his youth.
“I learned it in sixth grade and haven’t done it since,” he said of the procedure, which involves applying intense pressure to the abdomen.
“So it was just, ‘I think I remember how to do that.’ I’m a bigger guy, so I think that helped a bit.”
The 1.9m tall, 250lb skipper, who is entering his first full season as Blue Jays manager, said the woman did not recognize him.
“She said ‘thank you,’ and continued her meal with her friends,” Schneider said. “I think I was a little more disturbed than her.”
A complimentary beer helped calm his nerves.
Nicholas Christakos, chief executive of Clear Sky Draft House, said the staff on duty that day told him what happened. He said Schneider came over about three tables away to help the older woman.
“I heard that he was very polite and very gentle and then helped her with the secret,” Christakos said. “He was very casual and went back.”
As for the released shrimp, Schneider said their exit was “not like a movie.”
“It just came naturally, I think,” he said. “But it wasn’t like popping a bottle of champagne.”
Schneider was promoted from bench coach to interim manager last July.
He had the interim label removed last fall and signed a three-year contract with a team option for the 2026 season.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 19, 2023.
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