`THE DAY OUR FAMILY STARTED TO SMILE AGAIN'
Schneider's thunderous arrival in The Show washed away sorrow over brother's death
It is indeed the day the Schneider family started to smile again and it was so much more than a longshot son and a brother making a Major League Baseball debut for the ages.
The unlikely legend of the Blue Jays' Davis Schneider began that summer day at Fenway Park with a home run in his first big-league at-bat and the booming early notes of a story almost too good to be true.
This was more than the historic birth of baseball hero last August, however, as America's pastime became profoundly therapeutic for a family still healing from the loss of a person so important to the Davis Schneider story.
If you follow Schneider's father Steve on X, you got a window this week into some of the joy he shares with his youngest child and the rest of their family. In his first visit to Toronto to see Davis play, Steve chronicled much of it: interactions with fans, discovering Rogers Centre, food and beverages and a trip to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., to see some of Davis' artifacts and much more.
Steve Schneider and his wife Elena, we can confidently say, were having a blast.
“Yeah, it's been great for them,” the always personable Davis Schneider said earlier in the Jays' opening homestand. “They've been through a lot. It's good to have a reason for them to smile again.”
As is his understated way, Schneider is hinting at a sorrowful recent history for a family that is revelling in the inspiring success of the youngest of four children.
Only three are with them now, after Steven, the oldest sibling, died in November 2020. Davis lost one of his best friends and biggest supporters and the family's despair in the aftermath of his death is impossible to fathom.
“It has to be part of what motivates Davis,” Steve Schneider said in an interview this week.
“It could have went one of two ways for him. He could have just believed the world was terrible, that he had lost his brother. But he turned it into a positive and said I'm going to keep doing this and he's going to be with me.”
Even at the time of his brother's death, Davis was seemingly years away from the big leagues, a dream that had flickered while buried in the depths of the Jays' minor-league system. Sure, he thought about packing it in, especially when playing time was reduced to once every three days or so back in the COVID days, but something kept Davis Schneider going.
By now, the story is well known, how he suddenly started to move up the Jays' system, catching the eye of coaches and management in particular at 2023 spring training when he played late innings in a number of games and produced.
That set the groundwork for what would be a life-changing moment later that season after Schneider continued to show prowess with his bat at triple-a Buffalo. While the family was preparing for a trip from their south New Jersey home to Allentown, Pa. to see Davis and the Buffalo Bisons face the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, what would be a life-altering phone call came.
Davis was headed to the big leagues and Boston it would be for that family baseball trip and an Aug. 4 debut in The Show.
What followed was almost too sensational — and inspirational — to be real. In that first game, the one the family had dreamed about since he was selected by the Jays way, way down in the 28th round of the 2017 draft, Schneider hit a home run in his first at-bat to start an incredible and historic weekend. He went 3-for-3 at the plate on Saturday as a followup and was 4-for-5 with an explosive homer in Sunday's finale.
What made it even more emotional for the entire Schneider clan — Steve, Elena and daughters Madeline and Olivia — is that Steven's favourite team had always been the Red Sox. To have baby brother's big-league debut take place at the historic New England sporting shrine ... there were no words.
“It just seemed like he had an angel on his shoulder,” Steve Schneider says. “It was something to behold. It's something we'll be forever grateful for. And for whatever success Davis has, Steven is with him. It's magic, that's all I can say. The whole experience, it was the day our family started to smile again.”
You want more lump-in-thethroat details? The Sunday homer, that bomb that went over the Green Monster and right out of Fenway Park? Well it travelled 425 feet, a number that brought an even deeper sense of karma given Steven's birthday was April 25. Yes, 4/25.
The bond between brothers, always so strong, has lived on through Steven's memory.
Growing up near Philadelphia, where father Steve worked briefly as a physical therapist for the NHL Flyers, the Schneiders were your typical sports-crazed family. There were games on the street and beyond, including a crazy trick-shot basketball video with Davis and Steven nailing shots from seemingly everywhere.
“Steven was a pretty good athlete in his own right,” Steve said of his oldest son, who excelled at baseball and basketball. “Davis looked up to him so much. He loved his big brother.”
Before he died, at least Steven was able to see his brother play in some minor-league games as the early stages of the dream advanced and the legend of Davis (Babe) Schneider began to take root.
They haven't been easy times for the family.
Besides losing their son and sibling, Steve's father Ken died this past December after a long battle with dementia. So you better believe the Schneider family is living it up right now — and more than just vicariously. They have always been a close-knit group, with the kids separated by two years each from Steven on down to Davis.
“My daughters are on Cloud 9 with what their brother is doing,” Steve says. “It's a dream come true and seeing (Davis) achieve all of this is so wonderful. His sisters are so close to him.”
Though there were days where it looked like their son might not make it all the way through the dark times — personally and professionally — that easygoing personality Jays fans and teammates have come to appreciate surely was a factor.
“I think his personality helped,” Steve said. “He never complained. Hopefully, the organization saw that and said let's keep the kid here.
“He is very positive. There's not many highs and lows with him. He's the same person that you guys see. He's the same person at home. He doesn't take anything for granted. He doesn't think he's a celebrity. He likes being at home in south Jersey because nobody recognizes him.
“You can't worry about the last at-bat is how he (views it). We worry more than he does. We were sitting with the Springers last night and Mr. Springer said that feeling in your stomach when your kid is at bat, it never goes away.”
Along the journey — and especially this week in Toronto — Steve and Elena have met scores of Jays fans, which has created even more feel-good moments. There is a humility in their son that has its roots in a well-raised young man with strong family values.
“That's the best part of it,”
Steve says. “The cheering is great, but to be honest, we've had so many people come up to us after the game to tell us what a nice guy he is.
“He knows ... this can go away at any moment. So enjoy it and show the love back and that's what he's doing.”
And as much as they love Davis and the Blue Jays, they are committed to making sure memories of Steven forever are entrenched as part of the journey. Elena Schneider's licence plate rather poignantly captures the sentiment: “Always4.”
“That's her motto in life and all the kids, it's their motto, too,” Steve Schneider says. “There's always going to be four of them. Steven is always with us.”
An angel in the outfield — and wherever else baseball takes baby brother Davis.
That's the best part of it. The cheering is great, but to be honest, we've had so many people come up to us after the game to tell us what a nice guy he is.