SAN FRANCISCO -- Twenty-four years ago, the Blue Jays drafted a catcher named John Schneider in the 13th round. You won’t find him on any of the old top prospect lists.
Where you will find him is in the dugout at the All-Star Game, managing the American League. The real story here isn’t Schneider’s path from the World Series to managing the All-Star Game, because that’s just how this all works each year. That 22-year-old, though? He’s come a long way.
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“When I got drafted, I remember going, ‘Where is Dunn-din?’” Schneider said. “And please don’t send me to Medicine Hat, Alberta.”
Thankfully for Schneider, who’s learned how to pronounce Dunedin over his 24 years spending spring there, he wasn’t sent Medicine Hatt. The Blue Jays shipped him to Auburn, New York, to play for the Doubledays.
“You get there and you’re like … There’s a loaf of bread with peanut butter and jelly for lunch,” Schneider said. “I thought it was going to be the big leagues, but I was in short-season and it was far from it.”
Sitting in the dugout this week in San Francisco, Schneider is holding an old Auburn Doubledays game program from his very first year in pro ball. It’s an antique now, with a $1.50 price tag on the front, full of ads for long-forgotten local businesses and the faces of ballplayers chasing a dream so few of them found.
Inside, a clean-shaven Schneider. When he’s told that the 6-foot-3 listing might be a bit generous, he adds that the 215-pound listing might be a bit generous, too.
Schneider was smart. He roomed with the Blue Jays’ first- and second-round picks, Russ Adams and Dave Bush. Bonus money back in 2002 wasn’t what it is today, but they could afford an air conditioner and some nicer peanut butter. The trio lived at Oak Creek Apartments. Schneider still remembers every detail.
“It was a little dicey,” Schneider said. “I remember there was a guy named Wild Bill that sat next to the dugout. He would yell ‘What time is it!’ If the game was at 7:05, he would yell ‘7:04’ about 60 times on the second until it was 7:05. I remember the town being run down. We had to go work out at some local gym. Auburn was best known for its haunted houses, it was a little weird. Like, actual haunted stuff.”
Adams and Bush pitched like the top prospects they were. Schneider, over 40 games, snuck two home runs over the wall with a .733 OPS. Every day of Schneider’s professional baseball life since Auburn, New York, has taken place in the Blue Jays’ organization. After six seasons in the Minor Leagues, peaking in Triple-A, Schneider moved into coaching.
“My first year managing, I was 28. That’s how good of a player I was,” Schneider joked.
That’s who will be standing in the American League’s dugout, managing the All-Star Game. It hasn’t always been the big league life for Schneider or his family. Beyond the talent and relationships every coach needs to survive, the good ones all have a certain sense of stubbornness.
It matters that Schneider was never the No. 1 prospect, too. From Auburn to Charleston, West Virginia, with the AlleyCats, and eventually to the Blue Jays’ Spring Training home in Florida that he learned to pronounce, Schneider was surrounded by players who were better than him. A few of them, he confesses, might have been a bit smarter. But there’s more to Schneider’s journey than that.
There’s so little time for someone in Schneider’s position to press pause. His days are an onslaught of meetings and media, none of it ever ending. Next week in Philadelphia, though, the old Auburn Doubledays catcher is going to stop and look around.
“In the playoffs last year, I tried to take a couple of minutes each day to go, ‘... this is really cool,’” Schneider said. “It’s going to be easier to do that in an All-Star Game, though. The result doesn’t matter. This is something that not many people get to be a part of. I’ve definitely thought about that 13th-round pick in Auburn, New York. The road I’ve been down to lead me to this job, to be able to manage the American League in the All-Star Game and be just the second dude in this organization besides Cito [Gaston] to do that. I’ve taken some time to think about that.”
Schneider is a long way from Auburn, but in so many ways, he’s still that 13th-rounder, still grinding it out, still a Doubleday who found his way to the All-Star Game.