Schneider with the Save: Blue Jays skipper uses Heimlich manoeuvre to help woman

In baseball, it's usually the closer who makes the save. In this case, it was the manager who got the job done. Blue Jays skipper John Schneider recently helped save a woman who was choking at a local restaurant, successfully applying the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge a shrimp that was blocking her air flow.

In baseball, it's usually the closer who makes the save. In this case, it was the manager who got the job done.

Blue Jays skipper John Schneider recently helped save a woman who was choking at a local restaurant, successfully applying the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge a shrimp that was blocking her air flow.

"Right place, right time," Schneider said Sunday. "I was just enjoying lunch with (wife) Jess. You either help or you don't and I decided I'd go over and see if I could help."

The incident occurred about two weeks ago at an establishment on the town's main drag, about three kilometres from the Blue Jays' player development complex.

Others at the woman's table were slow to react, Schneider said, so he asked if he could help. The 43-year-old then thought back to first aid training from his younger days.

"I learned it in sixth grade and hadn't done it since," he said of the procedure, which involves strong pressure being applied to the abdomen.

"So it was just like, 'I think I remember how to do this.' I'm a bigger guy so I think that helped a little bit."