John Schneider saves woman from choking

DUNEDIN, Fla. — John Schneider set the tone early in Blue Jays camp, making one thing clear: There will be no choking in 2023.

Not in the regular season, not in the playoffs and certainly not at Clear Sky Draught Haus in Dunedin, where Schneider and his wife, Jess, were eating lunch one afternoon earlier this spring.

While Schneider ate, a woman at a nearby table began choking on a shrimp. Noticing that the other people dining with her didn’t know what to do, Schneider jumped in, performing the Heimlich maneuver on the woman and saving her. Looking back, the 43-year-old is grateful he had a distant memory of how to handle the situation.

“I learned it in about sixth grade and hadn’t thought about it since,” Schneider said, “so it was like, ‘I think I remember how to do this?’ I’m a bigger guy, so I think that helped a little bit. But no, I hadn’t thought about the Heimlich maneuver since Grade 6.”

Between laughs, Schneider confirmed that these things don’t look like they do in the movies. It “wasn’t like popping a bottle of champagne” when the shrimp shot out, he said, but once the Blue Jays manager ensured the woman was OK, both tables went back to their respective meals.

The woman and her friends didn’t know who Schneider was, either.

“It’s not like you’re looking for a pat on the back,” Schneider said. “She said thank you and carried on with her meal with her friends. We kind of just said, ‘See you later.’ Again, I wasn’t looking for a big compliment. I think I was a little bit more rattled than she was.”

The restaurant is walkable from the Blue Jays’ Spring Training home at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, and just a four-minute drive from the stadium. Once the situation had calmed, the restaurant’s manager came over to Schneider and his wife to thank him.

The reward for Schneider’s heroism? A free beer.

“I was a little bit rattled afterwards,” Schneider said. “So the beer did come in handy.”