Ultimate Mets Database - Memories of Dave Schneck

Paul Sullivan
January 7, 2001
The Mets somehow won the '73 pennant despite Dave Schneck. He was born a few years too late; he would have fit in better with the likes of such 60's icons as Joe Moock, Bobby Phiel, Al Schmelz, Joe Foy, Choo Choo Coleman, Pumpsie Green and Al Luplow, all synonymous with Mets futility.

Mr. Sparkle
February 16, 2001
I always thought he was a Met who hit a hmer in his first career at bad. Apparently I am wrong since Benny Ayala and Mike Fitzgerald are the only Mets to have done that. I still can't figure out what Schneck did and why I was told that. If he had done it it would have been the only memorable moment of his career.

Dave Sosidka
August 4, 2001
As I was starting to like the Mets, I sort of latched on to Dave Schneck because he had the same first name as I did. (I quickly converted to being a Rusty Staub fan.) As the Vietnam vet struggled to return to the big leagues, my dad would say, "What the heck- Bring up Schneck!"

keith bramley
October 23, 2001
My dad introduced me to baseball in 1973. Somehow, Someway. Dave Schneck was the first player I ever saw. Like any little 6 yr old kid. That's the name I followed. I later made sure I got his baseball card. Now at almost thirty years old the card may have gone to 4 cents?

Although , I quickly became a Willie Mays fan. For all the average or below average Major Leaguers such as Dave Schneck was. I wish I had the chance he had. To have a 6 yr old see me as the first baseball player he ever saw.

Cheers to you Dave.. Let's go Mets..

lee
February 7, 2002
I think he hit the home run in his first major league game...not at bat.

Gary from Chesapeake
April 5, 2002
I saw him play at Tidewater where he was one of their rising stars of the early 70's! I think his picture was on the Tides official scorecard in 1973 (shot from behind him, as he stood in centerfield in Met Park) I was so pumped when he got the call to the bigs! I like that battle cry, "What the heck, bring up Schneck!"

Larry Burns
June 3, 2002
He was another guy who was always "On the Rise" and never seemed to do a blessed thing. He did very little memorable, except that no one knows exactly how to pronounce his last name. Along with Jim Beauchamp, he is a charter member of the all sideburns team.

Ray
June 20, 2002
I lived in Whitehall, Pa (right next to Allentown) for 5 years in the mid to late '90s. There was one of those batting cage places, and I saw on the sign that on-site was "former major leaguer Dave Schneck". I went in, told him I remembered him from when I was a kid, I remembered his HR when he first came up, etc. I think his name is what I remembered most. Now I see from this great site (first time on today) that he was from Allentown, PA. Makes sense that he was there now, since you knew they hadn't recruited him from anywhere.

Dennis from Jersey
July 17, 2002
Dave was one of my earliest Met memories. Him and Randy Tate and John "The Hammer" Milner, and of course who can forget Don Hahn. I remember the Vietnam Vet thing and the funny batting stance.

Teddy
July 19, 2002
On fan appreciation day in 73, I think. When you could walk throught the field with a banner, some freak was holding up a banner saying "Where the heck is Schneck ?"

Ron Berutti
August 5, 2002
Although he played for a World Series team, I always associate Dave Schneck with the awful teams of the late 70's. He would have been a good fit. However, I note that he was traded for Mac Scarce, another name indelibly etched in my mind as being one of the ultimate scrubeenies of those teams. So in some way, he was responsible for the makeup of those teams. Finally, what player ever had a better name?

Schneck Fan
December 21, 2002
I played college ball with Dave's son Cory. Dave was always at our games, and at get togethers, always had a good story to tell about Bob Gibson, Tug McGraw or Nolan Ryan blowing him away in Spring Training. Dave did in fact hit a home run in his first major league at bat. A lot of people don't know he was also an all state football player at Whitehall HS, and was originally drafted to pitch!

Mr. Sparkle
December 24, 2002
In 1974 he hit 5 total home runs, 4 of them in two games in April.

Frank Grimes
June 9, 2003
Schneck's homer was in his first game but not his first at bat.

Dave Schneck- one of the all time great Met names. You gotta love it- it always brings a laugh when mentioned.

Bob P
June 10, 2003
Schneck made his debut on Friday night, July 14, 1972 in San Diego. Incredibly, he batted cleanup in his first major league game!

Schneck's first at bat came leading off the top of the second and he flied out to right. In the 4th he was called out on strikes, and then in the 6th, with two outs and a runner at second, he homered off RHP Steve Arlin to give the Mets a 3-2 lead (that would be the final score). He fouled out in his last at bat that night.

Dave
August 2, 2003
It was fan appreciation day c. '74 or '75 and the banner read "Hey New York How's the Stork and What the heck happened to Schneck"?

Phil Calbi
August 9, 2003
My memory may be a little faulty but very soon after hitting his first home run in his first game, Dave quickly hit his second. Maybe it was the next night. This was big news for a Met team that hit very few home runs. We thought we might have had something there. Alas, I think two more years went by before Dave hit his next homer.

Bob P
August 13, 2003
Phil, as I mentioned above, Schneck's first homer came in his first game, July 14, 1972. The next night he did not hit a homer but the following day, Sunday afternoon July 16, he hit home run #2 off Padres RHP Mike Corkins. In fact, Schneck had a single, double, and homer that afternoon. After that he hit just 6 more homers in 140 more games as a Met.

Rosterman
August 29, 2003
I can understand why a few people are under the impression he hit a homer in his second game. I remember listening to the game on radio and hearing Bob Murphy calling "it's going going.........caught." If memory serves me right, the day after that was a double header. Schneck was signing autographs between games and I remember asking him about the shot he hit the day before.

student
May 22, 2004
Mr. Schneck is my seventh grade teacher and he is so awesome! His class is so fun. He is so smart, any question you have he will answer it - even if you are just making up the question so you don't have to listen anymore. My locker is by his classroom and he is always singing and it's so funny. He's cool.

Kelly Ross
June 20, 2004
Mr Schneck is the BEST teacher I EVER had! I will always remember him! He has opened my heart up in SO many ways. I now pay attention to the world around me and I see how we are ruining it! School is coming to its nearest end and I will miss that guy, even though I will see him in the halls next year. But we all wanna say (Kara, Lindsay, Shannon, and Kelly) WE LOVE YOU MR SCHNECK! Thanks for being a GREAT and AWESOME teacher!

Ed K
September 9, 2004
No one has mentioned that Dave holds the club record for most at-bats in a game. He went 2 for 11 in the 25 inning game against the Cards in late 1974.

Jamey Bumbalo
October 14, 2004
I was at the game in Montreal in April of 1974 when he hit two homers. That morning I was at the Mets' hotel getting autographs. When I approached Dave he asked what I was doing that day. I said I didn't know (I was almost 12 and didn't make the decisions) but that we'd gone to the game yesterday. He asked if I wanted to go that day. I asked my dad if that was OK; he said yes. Dave then told me he'd have six tickets waiting for us at the stadium. I felt so cool going to the ticket window and telling the attendant that one of the Mets had left tickets for my family. And Dave ended up hitting two home runs! I'll never forget how great Dave Schneck's generosity made me feel.

Hank M
January 10, 2005
I lived in Whitehall, Pennsylvania in the late 90's. During my time there, I visited Dave's "Hitter's Edge" batting cage a few times. On my first visit, Dave saw me wearing my Mets' cap. He came over and introduced himself to me. We talked for about five minutes (about the Mets, of course!) and he was very friendly.

Being one who remembers when he played for the Mets, this was a great thrill. Even though our encounter was brief, it's a moment I will always remember. Thanks, Dave.

Jonathan Stern
January 28, 2005
Dave Schneck injured Thurman Munson badly in an exibition game between the Mets and the Yankees just before the start of the 1974 season. Schneck swung and his bat hit Munson's bare hand. Thanks to Schneck, the Yankee catcher played in pain for the entire 1974 season, and parts of the next few. Munson returned the favor later on by immortalizing Schneck in his autobiography in a chapter entitled "A Hitter Named Dave Schneck." In this chapter, Thurm was nice enough to note that Schenck's lifetime batting average was .199.

schneklove/hate23
July 10, 2005
I had Schneck as a 7th grade teacher. He was an ok teacher. He had a voice like Kermit the Frog on crack but he was pretty funny. He was a very accomplished player and I was honored to have him as a teacher. Did you know he played basketball against Kevin Sorbo, the guy who played Hercules?

Pete
December 3, 2005
My single lasting memory of Dave Schneck is that Ralph Kiner once said that he was built like a fireplug.

friend of dave
April 19, 2006
Loves his family and would do anything for any one of his friends. Fabulous man no matter what his batting average was.

The Ol' Perfesser
June 28, 2006
That "fireplug" build earned him a great nickname: "No-Neck" Schneck.

Greg Russell
August 20, 2006
Though Schneck never excelled at the major league level, he was quite the stud in Double A Texas League playing for the then-Memphis Blues. I was only 10 then but he provided me and other local kids a star---albeit minor league one---to look up to. He always stayed around after the game to sign autographs. If I recall, seems like he homered in his first or second game as a Met. That Blues team he played on also featured Joe Nolan and Bob Apodaca and manager John Antonelli, but no other folks who made any kind of impact at the ML level. I am still a Mets fan here in Cards country.

Mook
December 6, 2006
Schneck made quite a splash when he arrived at Shea. He did hit two HR's in his first two games. I recall seeing him hit a triple (a rare feat for a Met in '72) and fly around the bases in a game against the Phillies in 72. I also seem to recall an article about him serving in Viet-nam and possibly being wounded. Any one else recall this?

Andy the Walrus
December 30, 2006
I remember a crazy one-run Mets win in Philly in June of 1974. Kooz pitched out of one jam after another. In the ninth, with the bases loaded and two outs, Mike Schmidt hit a ball high and far that looked like it would be a game-winning grand slam and the crowd went nuts. Schneck caught it with his back to the wall in straight away center ... it seemed like it took forever to come down. Suddenly the Vet fell into hushed silence. It was so eerie. Since Schneck is from the Lehigh Valley area of PA, that's just got to be a lasting, favorite memory for him.

RF Mojica
December 13, 2007
I grew up in New York in the 1970s and, though I hated the Mets at that time (coz everyone else liked them) I remember that they always had players with great names: Jim Gosger, Greg Goosen, Don Bosch, Brian Ostrosser, Bruce Boisclair and, of course, my favorite, Dave Schneck. I remember seeing Dave Schneck play and that he was touted as a possible star. Looking at this website, I see he had a pretty good month of April in 1974, with one 4-hit game and two 2-homer games. The Metsies must have thought they really had something. Then, as it happens to most players, I guess, the pitchers of the National League figured him out. But all of us of a certain age here in New York remember Dave Schneck!

Met Fan
December 22, 2008
I remember Dave crashing into an outfield wall and knocking it over after catching a ball. (I think!)

Ralphist
June 12, 2009
I went to see my first Mets game on September 23, 1972. It was a Saturday day game against the Phillies. I was in first grade at that time but still I remember some things from the game:

1. Dave Schneck hit a triple! I can recall his name being announced and then almost immediately after he hit one off the wall in LF for a 3-bagger.
2. I remember the Phillies wore awful powder blue uniforms and that they lost to the Mets 5-3
3. I remember people in the crowd taunting Bob Boone. They were going "Bah-Booooone, Bah-Booooone" in sort of a homeage to VA-VOOM the cartoon character.

Mets Ken Do It
September 27, 2010
I remember going to a day doubleheader at Shea versus the Phillies in 1974. I was there with three of my buddies, and we were all 17 but were drinking beer and nobody cared. When Schneck was announced in his first at-bat in Game 1, me and two of the guys started saying that he sucked and calling him "No-neck" Schneck. Our other friend disagreed and said he was good, so we bet him beers whether he would get a hit. He did. Next at-bat, double or nothing. Same result. To make a long story short, Schneck went something like 6 for 8 in the doubleheader and we practically had to take our friend the Schneck fan out on a stretcher.

When the season ended and the Mets made the Tug McGraw for Stearns and Unser trade, I wasn't surprised that the Phils had the Mets include Schneck as a throw-in. It was on account of that doubleheader, which had to be his greatest day in baseball.

Joe Figliola
November 24, 2010
Dave is one of the few noteworthy Mets to never appear on a Topps baseball card (others who never had the Met name stamped on their cardboard include Joe Hicks, Jimmy Piersall, Jack Aker, Jack DiLauro [although I think he appears on the '70 WS celebration card but am not sure it's him], Bob Johnson [the infielder who hit .348 for the Amazin's in '67], Mike Marshall [the relief pitcher], and Mardie Cornejo).

Buzz
November 25, 2010
DiLauro did appear on a card in a Mets uniform though! He was on a 1970 Astros card (the 'Stros picked him up in the offseason) in a Mets uniform where just his face was depicted. The NY on his cap was painted over so no team logo appeared (Topps was notorious for doing that when guys were traded) and you can see the blue pinstripes on the neck of his jersey.

What can I say about Dave Schneck? In 1974 I remember he was always at the bottom of "Mets Batting" in the Daily News (only Jim Gosger was below him). Never saw him play but it seems like he was a real hustler. And unfortunately his lifetime batting average was .199. Darn.

Mets Fan in Maine
November 27, 2010
Dave Schneck does appear in a Mets uniform in the Mets Wiz cards (released around 1990), as do the rest of the guys mentioned. See my comments from a couple years ago about Dave Schneck giving me and my family tickets in Montreal.

Jacl DiLauro also is shown in a Mets uniform in the cool Spectrum Miracle of '69 cards.

Mitch
August 11, 2015
Say what you want about No-Neck Schneck - he made the majors and he hit a home run off major league pitching. A LOT of other players can't make that claim. You might say he was a terrible player, but if he played in a Sunday softball beer league, he'd be Babe Freaking Ruth.

Bob B
September 9, 2020
I grew up in Easton PA, fairly close to Allentown where Dave was from. We had a kid in our neighborhood w/ the same name, David Schneck, and it turned out he was the Mets D Schneck's nephew - we were amazed that we had an actual MLB player's relation so close, let alone an actual Mets player!

It's funny how our memories can deceive us, I see several writing how Schneck hit an HR in his 1st at bat ... that is wrong, he hit an HR in his 3rd at bat (it was his first game) ... also another states he hit an HR in his first 2 games, also incorrect, he hit HRs in his 1st and 3rd games.

Unfortunately for David, after playing significantly in '72, Mets kept him in the minors most of '73, except for a September roster expansion callup, and he did not participate in the post season.

VIBaseball
December 10, 2021
I was quite surprised to see when I was researching the '73 pennant race just how much Schneck started in center that September. Mays was hurt. I have to check again what happened to Hahn.