Brian Schneider announces his retirement

After having Flush Flaherty as your #1 simscore two years running…I guess I can’t blame Schneider.

And now, three years after he became a Phillie and 18 years after he skipped his high school graduation to report to the Gulf Coast League Expos, which kicked off his journey through professional baseball, Schneider told me Tuesday that he is retiring.

“It hasn’t been an easy decision, but there are a lot of factors,” Schneider told me. “You don’t want to retire, but you think of your family and I think more than anything it’s physically how you feel.

“I’d kind of like to leave on my own terms and not have my last impression of baseball be someone telling me I can’t play. But there is a lot going on in my life and I’m very fortunate to have a great family and start being a dad and being around more often and being a good husband.”

...Schneider doesn’t have the career numbers to be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. And having been a Phillie for only three years means he won’t go into the Phillies Wall of Fame, either. But former teammates praised him not only as a player, but as a person and teammate.

“If he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts but caught Cole’s three-hit shutout, he’d be all smiles after the game because he helped Cole win a game and throw a shutout and he wouldn’t care about his strikeouts,” former teammate Mike Sweeney said. “That’s what makes him a great teammate. He puts the team first. It’s all about winning. Nothing is about himself.”