Tom Schneider
Larry Wolfe
A Bay Area native, Tom Schneider was born in San Jose and grew up in the Santa Cruz area where he was a star athlete at Soquel High. (I guess he knows the way from San Jose!) Tom played football, basketball and baseball for the Knights and was All-League in baseball and football. As a football player, he says “he never left the field,” playing defensive end, wide receiver and on the special teams. In baseball, he was a lefty pitcher who was good enough to receive a try-out from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was offered a pro contract, but accepted a full scholarship from Santa Clara University instead.
He had some great experiences pitching for SCU, including tossing a no-hitter during his sophomore year. He also got to pitch three times against the San Francisco Giants during their annual exhibition game against that major league club. His ERA was 0.00 in those three appearances. A highlight was getting out future Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey on a broken-bat grounder. McCovey gave him that bat as a souvenir, which he still treasures today.
The Pirates continued to follow Tom during his college days and arranged for him to pitch three summers in the Intercounty Baseball League in Canada. His “prospect status” hit the wall during his senior season when he experienced major shoulder problems; bad news for a pitcher!
With his once potential baseball career behind him, Tom went to work for Lockheed Martin in their Satellite Division. He would spend most of his professional career with Lockheed, rising through the ranks to ever more responsible positions, primarily in cost control, scheduling and contracts administration. He did take a three-year “detour” to accept a position with Metricom, a once high-flying Dot.com company, but soon returned to Lockheed where he retired after 35 years of service.
Tom met his future wife Denise while they were both working at Lockheed. They were married in 1982 and have two sons and a daughter. They’re “patiently awaiting” their first grandchild!
The Schneiders spend the summers at their golf course home in beautiful Arnold, CA, in the High Sierras. They love to golf and ski, and Tom keeps busy as financial and long-range planning “guru” for the Blue Lakes Springs Mutual Water Company.
Denise and Tom are fitness buffs, with Denise regularly working out at the Oakwood Fitness Center while Tom jogs five times per week in addition to playing softball. As you might guess, Tom is one of the top players in our Sun Division, hitting for both average and power while flashing an adept glove in the outfield or at first base.
For all of Tom’s athleticism, it may surprise you to learn that he’s “super accident-prone.” Here are a couple examples: He once fell out of a car going over 35 mph, breaking both shoulders, and he had an ear bitten off by a horse! You’ll have to ask him about all the other accidents!