David Schneck's baseball career began with a 5-year-old boy hitting stones with a stick and ended with the Mets Major League ball team.

Schneck, of Lehigh Township spoke about his career Feb. 25 to members of the Lehigh Township Historical Society during a program at Hope Lutheran Church.

Shirley Eckhart introduced him by saying he was walking around during one of the society's mum sales and she thought, "Why not have him speak?"

Schneck said he hadn't spoken in front of a group in many years. He had been told to start with something humorous but chose to begin with two questions.

"Does it take longer to run from first to second base or from second to third?" The answer was from second to third because there is a short stop in the way.

The second question was "how many outs are there in an inning?" An inning has two halves, so the answer is six, though the common guess was three.

Schneck said he worked his way through youth baseball, spent two years with the Allentown Police Athletic team and played Cementon Babe Ruth and Legion ball.

In 1958 his team won the Slatington Little League championship out of eight teams.

He spent four years playing for his alma mater, Whitehall High School, where he was a star pitcher, winning three titles in his four years.

In the 38th round of the 1967 draft, he was chosen by the New York Mets. He was offered $0 as a signing bonus and was told not to accept it. The final offer was $1,000, which he accepted.

He made it to the Mets spring training in 1968 as a pitcher but injured his collarbone. When he returned, farm director Whitey Herzog agreed he should convert to an outfielder.

Schneck went to North Carolina where he was the 26th man on a 25-man team. Then he broke his wrist. He went home for two weeks and cut off his cast.

Schneck returned and was told he was going back to Double-A in Memphis. He said today that might take five years.

He was 19 when he got married and, the next day, he left for spring training. But, he said, that day he got his draft notice and instead spent 14 months in Vietnam. He was asked to extend his service for five months but had to get out for spring training.

Manager Gil Hodges sent him back to Double-A when his wrist was broken. It was x-rayed and he was told he was fine, but his condition worsened to the point he could not swing a bat. When his wrist was x-rayed again, it was discovered it had been broken but was healing well.

Schneck played Triple-A in the International League playoffs in 1971. After a week or two at home, he headed back to Florida, then home for a couple months and back to Memphis in 1972.

"My real career began when I had 26 home runs in half a season," said Schneck. However, he still wasn't ready for the big leagues.

He was called up to the Mets in New York and was given $200 to buy some clothes. His first time at bat with the Mets was nearly a home run and the second at bat he struck out.

He said the nicest thing a person could hear was "Welcome to the big leagues."

In 1972, he earned $16,000, which was a lot of money.

He learned the catcher's signals while with the Mets, and demonstrated some hand signals to illustrate his talk. Many involved pumping with the elbow out to the side and then using a number of fingers.

In September he traveled to Puerto Rico to play baseball. By Dec. 21 he got a call to play at Caracas, Venezuela, and agreed to play if he could go home for Christmas first. He left on Christmas evening for Caracas.

Tidewater Triple-A, where Schneck was playing, won the National League Championship in Hawaii. He hit home runs during his first, second and third at bats.

When he was recalled to New York, he and a friend were the only passengers on a 747.

The Mets won the National League East in 1973, but Schneck was cut because there was an extra player on the team. The pitcher broke his hand but decided to continue anyway.

Schneck's proudest moment came when he went back to New York and "just tore it up" the first few weeks. He did not know that was to be his final opportunity with the Mets.

Schneck flew to Japan and each of the American players received a $5,000 check for spending money.

When he returned home he was traded to the Phillies. Tokyo wanted him to come back but the Phillies wouldn't let him go. On the last day of spring training he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, then to Phoenix. He played in Colorado's Mile High Stadium where he hit a single in his last professional at bat.

He said Lindsey Nelson was the best announcer the Mets ever had.

Schneck's most memorable experience was going 4 for 5 in one game.

He began his career making $500 a month and finished at $20,000 a year. By then, the top players were getting $125,000. Today a rookie starts at $400,000.

After that, he played with his son in Bethlehem. He was 2-2 and knew the next pitch would be a fast ball.

He hit a home run and his son said, "Pop, that was fantastic."