Blue Jays Rookie Sensation’s Unusual Glove Has Amazing Backstory
Blue Jays rookie Davis Schneider isn’t related to Toronto manager John Schneider, but it turns out that there is a coincidental connection between the two.
Davis Schneider made his MLB debut on Friday in Boston, the culmination of seven seasons of hard work after he was selected in the 28th round of the 2017 draft. Schneider plodded away for years in the low levels of the minors, not even advancing to Double A until his sixth season as a pro. An excellent season at the plate in Triple A this year earned him the call to the majors, and he made an immediate impact, homering in his first plate appearance and picking up nine hits in the three-game series.
Adding to the Hollywood feel of Schneider’s story is the glove that he uses in the field. He picked it up out of the lost-and-found bin at his offseason training center.
This is the glove Davis Schneider is using to play in his 3rd MLB game.
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) August 6, 2023
He found it in “lost and found” at the place Davis coaches in the off season.
Whit Merrifield brought it to my attention to let me know Davis nickname is “VUK” (no idea who that is but it’s on the glove) ???? pic.twitter.com/SoxkxNDZQl
“The place where I gave lessons at and train at in the offseason, it was in the lost-and-found for about a year-and-a-half,” Schneider told Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae. ”No one got it, and it looked cool, and it looked old, and I was like, ’All right, I’m just gonna use it for now.’”
The glove’s defining characteristic is the “VUK” inscription written in permanent marker near the Mizuno logo. Schneider had no idea what the letters meant or who the glove belonged to, but that’s where the connection to manager John Schneider comes in.
It turns out the glove had belonged to John “Vuk” Vukovich, who played 10 seasons as an MLB infielder from 1970 to ’81. He later spent more than two decades as a big league coach, mostly with the Phillies, and died of cancer in 2007.
Vukovich’s son, Vince, recognized the glove when Mae posted the photo on Twitter, so he texted someone with the Blue Jays to jokingly tell them he wanted the glove back. That person was John Schneider, Vince Vukovich’s college roommate and teammate at Delaware. So somehow, Davis Schneider ended up with his manager’s friend’s late father’s vintage glove.
What are the odds?