Michael Shane Spencer (born February 20, 1972) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. In Major League Baseball, he played a total of 538 games for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

, Texas Rangers,

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

, and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

, compiling 438 hits, 59

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, and 242 RBI. He was a replacement player during spring training in , crossing the picket line during the

1994 Major League Baseball strike File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Professional career

New York Yankees (1998–2002)

Spencer was first called up to the major league in at the age of 26, in the midst of a famously dominant season by the Yankees. He first played briefly in April, then endeared himself memorably to fans in September by hitting 10 home runs, including three grand slams, then a record for Major League rookies, until it was broken by

Alexei Ramírez Alexei Fernando Ramírez Rodriguez (born September 22, 1981) is a Cuban former professional baseball shortstop. He has played for the Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays in MLB and Pinar del Rio of the Cuban National Serie ...

in 2008. Spencer accomplished the feat in only 67 at-bats, earning him a spot on the Yankees postseason roster. Additionally, Spencer was nicknamed Roy Hobbs in reference to the protagonist in ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mo ...

'', because he hit many home runs and was older than most rookies when brought up to the majors. In the postseason, Spencer hit a long home run in

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

during the 1998 American League Division Series against the Texas Rangers as the Yankees went on to win the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

Later career (2003–2006)

Spencer was not able to maintain that level of success, but became a solid role player and stayed with the Yankees through the season, having played in four

, winning three. He split the season with Texas and Cleveland and was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in by the Mets. His career did not live up to expectations, though, missing much playing time due to injury and striking out too often. In he signed with the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railwa ...

in Japan, appearing in 108 games and hitting 9 homers. In , he continued to play for the Tigers, but was cut. Major league teams were reluctant to sign him, despite his major league experience, because of off-field trouble after leaving the Yankees. He cut his foot in a bar in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and then, while he was supposed to be on rehab assignment, he was arrested for drunk driving and speeding over 97 mph. He also had problems with

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

police during spring training 2004. He and teammate Karim Garcia were accused of hitting and kicking a

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man in 2004, though all charges were dropped.

Coaching

After his playing career ended, Spencer's career turned to coaching, and he served as the hitting coach for the

Lake Elsinore Storm The Lake Elsinore Storm are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The Storm plays their home games at Lake Elsinore Diamond (Pete Lehr Field), which opened in 1994; the park s ...

, the Single-A affiliate of the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

, from until 2012. In 2013, he was named the hitting coach of the

Somerset Patriots The Somerset Patriots are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, that is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. They compete in the Eastern League, known as the Double-A Northeast in 2021, and w ...

of the Atlantic League. In 2015, Spencer became the manager of the Hwaseong Heroes, the farm team of the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, but stepped down from his position after being arrested for driving under the influence.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
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Baseball Reference (Minor and Japanese Leagues)
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Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Shane 1972 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Japan American expatriate baseball people in South Korea Baseball players from Florida Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Gulf Coast Yankees players Hanshin Tigers players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball replacement players Minor league baseball coaches New York Mets players New York Yankees players Norwich Navigators players Oneonta Yankees players People from Key West, Florida Tampa Yankees players Texas Rangers players Tigres de Aragua players