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John Schneider may well have some big wins ahead of him as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Who knows, maybe Schneider even wins a World Series one day.
But he’ll likely never have an accomplishment nearly as big as the one he achieved over the weekend in a Florida restaurant.
No, Schneider did not win an eating contest or set a new record. Instead, he can now label himself a hero after performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a choking woman and, in turn, saving her life.
Hazel Mae and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca had the details:
Manager John Schneider was out at lunch with his wife, when a woman at another table was choking and couldn’t breathe. Schneider rushed to her aid, performed the Heimlich maneuver, and saved her.
Just another day in the life… #BlueJays— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) February 19, 2023
“Speaking to Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae and Shi Davidi, Schneider said he saw a woman at a restaurant in Dunedin, Fla., choking and struggling to breathe, with people around her not knowing what to do.
The 43-year-old Schneider, who’d learned the Heimlich Maneuver in school, then walked over to offer help.
It turns out Schneider definitely listened in school because he successfully performed the maneuver despite not being sure if he remembered how to do it, and saved the woman by dislodging a piece of shrimp.” – via Sportsnet.ca
Schneider called the incident a matter of “right place, right time.”
“Right place, right time,” Schneider said Sunday. “I was just enjoying lunch with (wife) Jess. You either help or you don’t and I decided I’d go over and see if I could help.”
He went on to note that he learned the maneuver in sixth grade but had not had to use it since. The second-year Jays manager also said that being a “bigger guy’ may have helped with the process.
Schneider took over on an interim basis after the firing of Charlie Montoyo. He went 46-28 down the stretch and led the Jays to an AL Wild Card spot. The Seattle Mariners unceremoniously dumped Toronto out of the playoffs. But organization still removed Schneider’s interim tag following the season.