Davis Schneider using John Vukovich’s old glove ‘puts a smile’ on his son’s face: ‘The whole thing is amazing’

Vince Vukovich has lost other baseball gloves. He coaches youth teams and will chat with someone after practice or a game and absentmindedly leave one behind. It happens. More often, in fact, than he’d like to admit.

“I guess it’s a bad habit,” he said.

Vukovich, 43, wasn’t surprised, then, when a friend called two weekends ago to say that another misplaced glove turned up. Only this well-worn Mizuno was different. It belonged to Vukovich’s late father, John, the hard-nosed Phillies reserve infielder and hard-driving coach who was beloved by players and fans alike.

Oh, and here’s where the story gets really good, even a little incredible: The glove is being worn — 40 or so years, according to Vince’s best guess, after John Vukovich used it — by Toronto Blue Jays rookie infielder Davis Schneider, a graduate of Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees, which also happens to be Vince’s alma mater.

“I didn’t even know it was missing, and then once I saw it, I’m like, ‘Oh crap, I was kind of looking for that glove!’” Vince Vukovich said last weekend. “I thought it was phenomenal.”

And maybe the coolest baseball story you’ll hear all season.

Schneider, 24, will wear the glove this week when the Blue Jays host the Phillies for two games. Maybe he will record an out or two with it, which would only be fitting since Vukovich was the Phillies’ bench coach in the 1993 World Series against Toronto.

“I actually just looked at some pictures of him using it as a Cub,” Schneider said by phone before a game last week. “One of my buddies sent me a picture of him in a Phillies uniform with the glove. He was like, ‘Damn, this is the glove!’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it probably is.’ It was pretty cool to see.”

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Vukovich served as a Cubs coach from 1982-87, including an 11-game stint as manager in 1986.

Schneider spotted the leather two years ago in the lost-and-found at Indoorance Sports, a training center in South Jersey where he works out in the offseason and Vince Vukovich often holds practices. They actually met last winter and chatted briefly.

The weathered glove had gone unclaimed. But Schneider liked how it was broken in and received permission to take it.

“I’m not the type of guy who likes freshly new gloves or a big pocket,” Schneider said. “I guess I’m old school. It was kind of the way I break in gloves, kind of flat, the thumb and the pointer finger are close together. I like it sloppy and pancakey. It was the right fit. And it looked cool.”

But Schneider wasn’t aware of the significance of the marking — “VUK,” written in ink — near the wrist strap. He describes himself as “kind of a Phillies fan” growing up — “I liked Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, but I wasn’t a diehard,” he said — and was 8 years old in 2007 when John Vukovich died from the effects of a brain tumor at age 59.

John Vukovich, childhood best friends with Larry Bowa in Sacramento, Calif., wasn’t a star player. He batted .161 over parts of 10 seasons in the majors. But defense and intangibles, notably his fiery leadership, kept him in the big leagues. He was on the World Series roster in 1980 but didn’t play. As a coach, he was tough, with a sandpapery exterior, but fiercely loyal to his players. After coaching the Cubs, he returned to the Phillies in 1988. In all, he coached the Phillies for 17 years.

“I’d heard of him, but I didn’t know to what extent,” Schneider said. “I didn’t know he played for the Phillies or anything like that.”

Schneider began wearing the glove in the minors last season, prompting teammates to call him “Vuk,” even though they didn’t know why. The Blue Jays called him up two weeks ago. He homered in his first major league plate appearance on Aug. 4 at Fenway Park in Boston and went 9-for-13 with two homers in his first three games.

And when Sportsnet reporter Hazel Mae posted a picture of Schneider’s glove on social media, the story began to crystalize.

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Frank Coppenbarger, the former Phillies director of travel and clubhouse services, knew it right away.

“I told my wife I knew it was Vuk’s,” Coppenbarger said. “Picked it up off the bench too many times.”

But it gets even more surreal. Vince Vukovich’s roommate at the University of Delaware was Blue Jays manager John Schneider (no relation to Davis). In 2001, Vukovich got drafted by the Phillies in the 20th round, Schneider by the Blue Jays in the 24th.

“I sent him the picture of the tweet, and he wrote, ‘Was that your dad’s glove?’” Vukovich said. “I told him it was my dad’s. He goes, ‘Holy [bleep], that’s what I thought.’ He goes, ‘The whole thing is amazing ... but not as amazing as [Davis’s] mustache.’”

Indeed, another thing that would have made the famously mustachioed John Vukovich proud.

Davis Schneider said he would return the glove at the Vukovich family’s request. Vince wouldn’t mind having it back — he has many of his dad’s jerseys — but he knows better than to ask for it, at least until the offseason.

“That’s definitely a glove that I’m kind of [ticked] that I left,” he said, laughing. “But being a former ballplayer, superstition is a big thing. The kid just got called up to the big leagues. He’s having a phenomenal start. I don’t ever want to rock the boat. I don’t want Toronto fans mad at me.”

Surely, though, Vukovich will keep an eye out for the glove on television this week.

“Maybe I’ll reach out to him after the year’s over and we’ll see. Maybe we’ll have to make a deal,” Vukovich said. “I just think it’s a great story. It definitely puts a smile on my face.”

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