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Karen Schneider became a baseball lifer, just like J.D.
She might have balked for a while, but ultimately she came to understand that her husband was a baseball lifer and that his passion for the El Dorado Broncos — the team he operates — was not going to wane. So Karen Schneider did what she had to do — she jumped in. If you can't beat 'em, after all, you join 'em. And Broncos baseball became their passion, not just his. How many wives can tell that tale, whether it be with baseball, golf, football, cars? But over the 26 years of marriage, Karen at least knew she finished second. And in J.D.' s world, second wasn't bad. He loved baseball, true, but he also loved his wife. And he grew to love her more and more. Then, this summer, he unexpectedly lost her. Karen died June 21 after complications arose from back surgery. J.D. was in the midst of another summer of baseball with the Broncos, who are one of two remaining unbeatens in the National Baseball Congress World Series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. "Baseball has been a real release for me this summer,'' Schneider said. "Losing my wife... you know... it really hurt.'' Schneider can't contain his emotions when he talks about Karen, who endured so much pain in her 60 years. She was hit by an automobile when she was 4 and that resulted in the loss of a leg, among many other injuries. Her June surgery was her 90th. Her body finally wore out. "He really admired her,'' said Duane Schneider, J.D.' s son from a previous marriage. "I think she was a crutch for him and kept him going. He thought, 'If she can go through all she's been through, there's nothing I can't overcome.''' J.D. and Karen went back a long way. He was a student at Butler County Community College and she was going to high school at Southeast when they met. They quickly became friends, and remained that way through their marriages. They started dating in 1975, Schneider said, but didn't marry until 1983. By then, she knew she how baseball crazed J.D. was. "She loved baseball, too,'' Schneider said. "In fact, she coached a Little League team there for a couple of summers a while back and had a lot of fun with it.'' But nobody loves baseball like Schneider, who spends hours at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium during the NBC World Series watching as many teams and games as he can. He was disgruntled after last season's Broncos failed to finish in the top 10 and caused him headaches off the field. "There was no chemistry at all with that team,'' he said. "In fact, I talked to Karen and said that if I had a ball club come in here this summer that was like last summer's team, I was finished. I wasn't going to go out and bust my tail all year long to have kids who just didn't care if they won or lost.'' Schneider has been running the Broncos since 1987. The NBC owned the Broncos when they first moved to Wichita in 1985. In 1995, J.D. moved the team to El Dorado; and it was a boon for the franchise, which has won four national championships and has a strong following in Butler County. Schneider, an electrician for more than 40 years, is involved in every aspect of the team, but it's fundraising that is the biggest challenge. "It's hard for people to believe that eight or nine weeks of baseball can run you into the $50,000 range,'' Schneider said. His wife organized bingo games, which were lucrative for a while. Lately, the Broncos have worked concession stands at Wichita State sporting events to raise money. Karen was always in the middle of things. The day of her funeral, the Broncos played a game in Hays. But the team voted to go to the service first, and then get on the road for the four-game series. "I told the coaching staff when they left the service that Thursday morning that I would see them in Hays on Friday,'' Schneider said. "I knew I had to keep my mind occupied and there's no better way for me to keep my mind occupied than to be working with baseball or thinking about baseball.'' Schneider knows that — win or lose — it's about to end. Come Sunday morning, or maybe sooner, there will be no more baseball. And that's when he'll have to confront his grief head-on. It's difficult to say which would be worse — to not win a championship and have to deal with the disappointment alone or to win a fifth and not be able to celebrate with his wife. "Baseball has been his saving grace,'' J.D.' s daughter, June, said. "We don't know what we would have done if this had happened and it wasn't baseball season.'' The connection between J.D. and Karen remains strong. He's doing everything he can to share this experience with her. One of the ways is to visit her grave, in the White Chapel Memorial Gardens near 17th and Oliver, as often as possible, and especially after games in the NBC World Series. It's not a coincidence, he believes, that the Broncos are unbeaten in the tournament. He thinks his talks with Karen are as good a reason as any for the team's success. "She was a fighter and I thought she was invincible,'' Schneider said. Five years ago, Karen survived 47 days in intensive care after her bowel ruptured. "We didn't think she was going to make it out of that one,'' Schneider said. "But she did.'' It was that spirit that Schneider fell in love with. You couldn't keep Karen Schneider down. "She wasn't ever going to complain or feel sorry for herself,'' J.D. said. "As a matter of fact, she was pretty feisty. I dodged her (artificial) leg a couple of times. I'd get her going and get her aggravated and pretty soon I'd have to watch real careful because that leg might be coming at me.'' He laughs as he tells the story. Then he cries. Eagle sports columnist Bob Lutz co-hosts "Sports Daily" from 9-11 a.m. weekdays on KFH, 1240-AM and 98.7-FM. Reach him at 316-268-6597 or blutz@wichitaeagle.com.
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Reprinted with permission from Bob Lutz and the Wichita
Eagle (c) Wichita Eagle, Kansas.com & Bob Lutz