It is, perhaps, exactly what one might expect from someone whose social media handle is “bballdadd44745.”
Yet Steve Schneider’s reaction as he filmed his son’s now-famous home run on the first pitch of Wednesday’s Game 5 of the World Series is so pure that it’s gone viral and been shared by the official MLB X account.
“Oh, no! No way!” Schneider shouts in the video as Davis Schneider of the Toronto Blue Jays cracks the ball into the first row in left field.
“Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” he continues as his son rounds the bases. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
From there, it’s just incoherent screaming and high fives and hugs, which, honestly: appropriate. Because as MLB.com put it, the elder Schneider “just so happened to capture a first-person account of some World Series history.”
Not only is it rare to hit a home run on the very first pitch of a game, but when teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit another one two swings later, Toronto became the first team to begin a World Series game with back-to-back homers.
Davis Schneider’s hit also set the tone for the rest of the game, which the Toronto Blue Jays dominated to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1.
But what’s captured the heart of fans everywhere is just the sounds of a proud dad.
“You cannot watch this as a father and not have tears in your eyes,” commented someone on the video shared by MLB’s X account.
“Seeing a World Series Game 5 leadoff homer through a parent’s eyes is pure baseball magic. Davis Schneider gave his Dad a memory for a lifetime on that first pitch,” wrote someone else.
“Dad cam hit harder than the ball,” commented another.
Friday’s Game 6 in Toronto has the potential for another wholesome moment: not only will beloved Canadian children’s singer Raffi be in the stands, but he’s (jokingly?) offered to sing the national anthem.
WATCH | Blue Jays stun in Game 5:
Blue Jays stun L.A. 6-1 to take World Series lead
It took just three pitches from L.A. Dodgers starter Blake Snell for the Toronto Blue Jays to take a 2-0 lead in Game 5 of the World Series with back-to-back home runs from Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Jays’ own starter Trey Yesavage struck out 12 and walked no batters in a performance for the history books. ‘Just unreal’
At the L.A. airport Thursday morning, Steve Schneider told CBC Toronto that Davis typically asks him not to record his bats, and usually he honours his son’s requests. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Davis’s 2023 Blue Jays debut at Fenway Park, when he hit a solo home run and Steve missed out on capturing his family’s reaction.
“So I said, this time, if he does something, you know, I’m going to tape it, so I did. And I’m happy for the result,” Steve Schneider said.
Usually, the team bats Davis second, he said, so he wasn’t sure what to expect when his son went up first.
“I was just hoping for the best. Just get on base, get a hit, get a walk,” he said. “And when [the ball] cleared the fence, it was just incredible.”
Schneider rounds first after hitting a single home run on the first pitch of Game 5 of the World Series, in Los Angeles, on Wednesday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Facing the possibility of winning the World Series, Steve Schneider says the title was never even on his radar when Davis was growing up. He just wanted his son to earn a college scholarship. Then, when Davis got drafted, Steve focused on him getting called up some day.
“He’s just beaten all the odds every place he’s stopped, so, this is just another stop along the way. And if this happens, it’s just going to be incredible,” he said.
“It’s just unreal. I still just can’t believe it’s happening.”
A family affair
Steve Schneider wasn’t the only member of the family fan club to go viral during the game. TSN Sports zeroed in on Davis’s older sister, Madeline Schneider, for her clapback on X.
“Davis Schneider leadoff is a f–king choice LMAO” someone called “Ross” posted on X moments before Davis blitzed the ball.
Cue big sister.
“The right one I guess?” Madeline Schneider wrote.
TSN’s post about it was viewed 1.7 million times by early Thursday afternoon.
Meanwhile, when Davis Schneider himself was asked what he thought about his dad’s viral video in a news conference, he answered in typical son fashion: With embarrassment.
“Yeah, I mean his Meta glasses are a little bit … they’re kinda dumb. I don’t know why he wears them all the time,” Davis said, referring to his dad’s Meta glasses that recorded the play.
“But those are the glasses he was wearing, and it was great to have my family out here.”