Nick Castellanos is making playoff history while wearing batting gloves made by a former Catholic League baseball coach

Kevin Schneider was at home earlier this month, screaming at his TV without wondering what his neighbors in Lawrenceville, N.J., were guessing was happening inside. Schneider grew up in Mercer County, but living in South Philadelphia for three years was enough to turn a Yankees fan into a Phillies die-hard.

And that player on the TV screen — the wildly popular Nick Castellanos — was standing on second base after hitting a clutch double in the National League wild-card playoff against Miami, raising a finger to his teammates while wearing the batting gloves made by the company Schneider founded just two years ago.

“First,” Schneider said, “I thought, ‘Holy crap. He just gave the middle finger.’”

Schneider was the head coach at Immaculata University before resigning in 2021 to start Emery Glove Company, a passion product named after his daughter that he started during the pandemic when Schneider began manufacturing baseball gloves.

A self-described “glove head,” Schneider always had an interest in the inner workings of gloves. So he bet on himself, walked away from the security of a college coaching gig, and started selling his own mitts.

Schneider soon linked up with Castellanos, who has played the outfield in an Emery glove the last two seasons and this season started wearing the company’s unique batting gloves that look more like pieces of art than something to grip a handle.

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Every piece of equipment Castellanos wears except his cleats — fielding gloves, shin protectors, wrist protector, and batting gloves — is made by Schneider, who coached Neumann Goretti’s baseball team to its first state title in 2016.

So Castellanos was wearing batting gloves designed by a former Catholic League baseball coach when he joined Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five postseason homers over three games. And he was wearing them the night he lifted his ring finger toward the Phillies dugout, creating a viral moment while Schneider screamed at his TV.

“He sent me a text at 1:08 a.m.,” Schneider said. “He’s not a big talker. He just wrote, ‘How’s that for a batting glove advertisement?’”

Schneider didn’t know much about Philadelphia before he was hired in 2014 to coach Neumann Goretti. He grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Monmouth. So he moved to 7th and Tasker, just a few blocks from Neumann, and immersed himself into South Philly.

The Saints were a Catholic League power, leading Schneider to assume they already had a place to train during the winter. The team’s longtime assistant coach said they did.

“He took me to it and it was an Italian-American men’s club indoor bocce ball court,” Schneider said. “‘Dude, I thought you said you have a place to train?’”

Schneider opened his own indoor facility at 25th and Moore, next to N-G’s home field. The Bubba Baseball Academy gave his team a place to hit and throw in the offseason while also giving the neighborhood a baseball hub.

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Schneider helped raise money to renovate Neumann’s field while guiding the Saints to two Catholic League crowns in three seasons and ending his tenure by following through with the promise he made to the school’s administration of capturing a state title. He fell in love with South Philly.

“Without a doubt, it was the best decision I ever made in my life,” said Schneider, who left N-G to coach Immaculata. “I went all-in. It was a leap of faith. The people I met there. The people who were born and raised there. They embraced me and I embraced them.

“I’m a Phillies fan now, and people are like, ‘You can’t do that.’ I say you don’t know what it’s like to live in South Philly. You have no choice but to change. But you want to change.”

Castellanos texted Schneider a grainy headshot earlier this season of a mustachioed basketball player.

“Without comment,” Schneider said.

Schneider replied — “LOL,” he wrote — and wondered what Castellanos’ intentions were. The MLB All-Star asked Schneider if he knew who that was. Schneider knew Castellanos is a Miami Heat fan, which helped him correctly guess that it was an old photo of Pat Riley. The photo, Schneider told him, was when Riley was 31, the same age as Castellanos.

“Let’s make a shirt out of it,” Schneider said.

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And that’s why Schneider knew that he couldn’t make a traditional-looking batting glove for Castellanos, whose interests don’t match the cliché of a ballplayer. Castellanos loves art, so Schneider took some work by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, turned it into Phillies colors and put the images on the knuckles of the glove. Schneider had “Liam” and “Otto” — the names of Castellanos’ sons — added beneath the palm in Liam’s handwriting. It was a pair of gloves fit for a player who thought Riley’s mug would make a cool shirt.

“Everything he does is authentic,” Schneider said.

Schneider found a way in the early 2000s to order a red glove from Japan with his name stitched onto the side. He stood out — “You might as well have thought I was using a spaceship on the mound,” Schneider said — when he pitched at the Lawrenceville School.

Schneider, like Castellanos, always had a passion for art and design alongside his love for baseball. His obsession with gloves continued in college at Monmouth, when his older brother, John, would send him the extra gloves he received while playing in the minors.

That passion became something more when the pandemic halted Immaculata’s baseball season in March of 2020. Schneider started digging into what made a good glove, learning as much as he could about leather and hand stalls. He had his own business. And he wanted his products to be the best, not just look cool.

“I was at a crossroads. I had to either go all-in or not,” Schneider said. “I felt like this was my calling. Everything kind of came together. Once I started making the gloves, it just felt right and I thought, ‘I think I’m on to something here.’”

The business was acquired in August by Chandler, the bat company that started in Montgomery County and is now owned by former All-Star Yoenis Céspedes. That’s how Schneider first connected with Castellanos, who used Chandler bats but wasn’t thrilled with the big-brand gloves he was wearing in the field and at the plate.

Schneider couldn’t match the commissions those companies paid, but he believed he could deliver a better product. He met with Castellanos at Chandler’s headquarters in Florida and pitched his glove alongside his leather crafter, who makes the gloves in Tennessee.

They took six measurements of Castellanos’ hand, asked him what he thought made a good glove, and went to work. Castellanos signed with the Phillies a few weeks later and hasn’t worn anything else since.

“As a coach, I always had the philosophy that it’s not the weapon, it’s the warrior,” said Schneider, whose brother John manages the Toronto Blue Jays. “But with the way innovation and information has evolved, the initial idea was, ‘But what if we can give the warrior a better weapon? How good could he be then?’

“He went from a rated below-average defensive outfielder to the only player in the last two seasons who didn’t make an error in any position. Now, I personally think it has a lot to do with Nick’s hard work and the Phillies coaching staff getting after it with him and the long hours he’s put into it because he wanted to improve his defense. But from my company’s perspective, it’s a pretty good story that he turned it around.”

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Schneider credits baseball with getting him through high school and into college. He was never “book smart,” he said, but his success on the mound provided a path. The baseball team pushed him through college as it had academic advisers and study hall to help him finish his degree. And the game provided him with a coaching career.

He risked that by leaving Immaculata, betting on himself the same way he did when he moved to South Philly. Schneider approached the business the same way, going all-in with Emery just like he did with the Saints. He took a chance and it paid off. So it’s easy to understand why he was yelling at his TV when Castellanos lifted his finger and was wearing his glove.

“It just made me feel so proud to be a part of it and be a part of his journey,” Schneider said. “I have so much respect for the game because of what it’s done and the lessons it’s taught me. Success and failure and adversity. It’s such a good comparison to life of dealing with the ups and down and the struggles and success.”