- 5/18/2025
Frank The Tank
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00:00Today's walk is going to be with Shane Spencer, a key part of the Yankees Champion Dynasty
00:07of the 90s.
00:08When Daryl Strawberry was diagnosed with cancer, he came through and had a monster division
00:15series against the Texas Rangers in 1998.
00:18Later he played for the Mets and also played in Japan.
00:21Let's see what Shane's up to these days.
00:28Frank Walsh, Frank Walsh, it's time for Frank Walsh.
00:33Alright, I'm here with Shane Spencer, of course.
00:37His biggest moment in baseball came in the 1998 postseason, where you had a really good
00:44end of the season, you went on a tear and it carried over into the postseason.
00:49And the Yankees got the news that Daryl Strawberry had cancer and you stepped up against the Texas
00:54Rangers.
00:55What was that moment like?
00:56Well, I always thought I was pretty fortunate because when I got called up four times that
01:02year, the last time I got called up, the Yankees had such a big lead, I actually got to have
01:07some more playing time because you're not going to be a DH on that team.
01:11You have Daryl Strawberry, Chili Davis, Tim Raines, and you're not playing right field with O'Neal.
01:16You're not playing center with Bernie, so you have four guys trying to share left field.
01:20And so if you weren't hot, you weren't getting any playing time.
01:23So it was pretty cool.
01:26So I got hot at the end and made the playoff roster.
01:29And, you know, obviously the unfortunate news with Daryl because he's such a great guy, it
01:35opened up the door for more like Tim Raines being the DH and then me getting the chance
01:40to play left field.
01:40Now, that playoff run, the only, like, real challenge you had was to be playing against
01:49the Indians.
01:51You had the down 2-1.
01:53Yep.
01:54But you were just telling me, before I started recording, that you grew up a Padres fan.
01:59Yes, unfortunately, yes.
02:01So that year, it was the Yankees against the Padres.
02:05So I pretty much peaked my first year.
02:06You made it to the big leagues, made it to the playoffs, go to the World Series against
02:12my Padres and against Tony Gwynn, who was my idol growing up.
02:16So people ask me, what's your best highlight ever in a home run at Yankee Stadium or in
02:21a playoff?
02:22Tony Gwynn actually lined out to me for the second out in the first inning in San Diego.
02:29And all I wanted to do was put it in my back pocket.
02:31You know, that was like, I'm like, this is it.
02:33This is my highlight of my, what do we do after this?
02:34And it pretty much showed because I stunk the next year or so.
02:38But you did it all right then.
02:39So, you know, beating the Padres, of course, I wanted to win.
02:42But all my friends are diehard Padres fans and they're pretty much ragging on me the
02:46night before.
02:47And like, oh, you got lucky on the Tino Martinez home run.
02:52Well, he did.
02:53It was probably a pretty good pitch, but, you know, we were kind of destined that year.
02:57So it was a great fun year.
02:59I think that the Yankees overmatched the Padres that year.
03:01But I don't see how, even if the Padres pull off game one, I don't see how that series goes.
03:08We were just much deeper in pitching.
03:10Our pitching was much deeper.
03:11So one through five with our starters and then, you know, obviously you got Mariano and they
03:16had Hoffman.
03:17But we were just so deep and pretty much everywhere that year.
03:21So it was a lot of fun.
03:24Bittersweet for me because the Padres, the Chargers, they've never won anything.
03:28So it was a it was pretty hard.
03:31But I did go to the only game the Padres ever won, which was 1984.
03:34So I think I got to witness that curb of aqua who I played golf with in San Diego.
03:39He's a great dude.
03:40Yeah.
03:41Terry Kennedy get to watch him hit a double or triple and end up coaching with him with
03:47the Padres.
03:48So, you know, some good moments there.
03:50One of my favorite moments, of course, that was the year the umpire, the pitcher move,
03:54you got the umpire in the groin in game one.
04:00Oh, really?
04:01Yeah.
04:02I don't even remember that.
04:03Oh, I just, that's like one of my favorite, like it just sticks out to me.
04:08So, yeah, there's all kinds of little memories and stuff.
04:12I remember just in that Yankee game in the Padres, you go out there to stretch and the
04:17Padres are having BP.
04:18So we're stretching like right by the dugout.
04:19And I hear my name called.
04:21You hear your name called.
04:22But it's San Diego.
04:23And I recognize the voice ended up being one of my longest, longest living friends that
04:27I have.
04:28I'm still great friends with him.
04:29Tim Haradia and he was the first person I saw.
04:32So I went up there and gave him a big hug.
04:33Well, that Tiger Padre World Series.
04:35Uh, I remember the video that came out after the World Series.
04:39Yup.
04:40Is, uh, Sparky Anderson going over to Goose Goss and say,
04:44they don't want to walk you.
04:45They don't want to walk you.
04:46And then Kirk Gibson hits the home run.
04:48Oh, my God.
04:49Yeah.
04:50They killed us.
04:51We have one good game.
04:53Jack Morris was awesome for them.
04:55Of course, Trammell's from San Diego.
04:57So it kind of followed him a little bit too.
05:00Uh, Daryl Evans ended up being my hitting coach in double A.
05:04So I got some good ties with that Tigers team, which unfortunately leads to my Padres.
05:09So that's tough.
05:10Now you also tell me that you were a Charger fan.
05:13Charger season ticket holder.
05:14Yes.
05:15To me, they should have never moved.
05:17Yes.
05:18I miss that old song too.
05:20That San Diego Super Chargers.
05:23Yeah.
05:24Yeah.
05:25Oh yeah.
05:26They still, they don't say the San Diego part anymore, but, uh, it's not the same.
05:31I mean, I still root for the Chargers.
05:32My, my kids are Charger fans still Padres.
05:35So it's, um, it's bittersweet, but I don't quite follow them as much.
05:39And the season ticket holders, we never even got a chance to vote on it.
05:42So they just stepped in the city and we had to have a certain amount of votes.
05:45See, man, I don't, I don't understand why.
05:48It's, uh, money, baby, money.
05:49I mean, Los Angeles doesn't, isn't really a football town.
05:54Well, you have the Rams there now and you have the Chargers there and nobody wants either
05:58one of them there.
05:59They want the Raiders.
06:00Yeah.
06:01Yeah, exactly.
06:02They want the Raiders.
06:03So, I mean, now, before you made your debut at the Yankees, you were part of that, uh, replacement
06:13spring.
06:14Yes.
06:15What was that like?
06:16And so I got a call before Christmas from the Yankees asking me, Hey, they don't think
06:22they're going to start the season.
06:23Would you go over here and play?
06:25I said, absolutely not.
06:26Now I didn't have an agent at the time.
06:27Cause I wasn't like a top prospect or anything.
06:30So, so it comes right before spring training.
06:33They call again.
06:34Hey, we really want you to go over there.
06:36Maybe Buckshaw Walter can see your bats.
06:38I don't even know who Buckshaw Walter was at the time.
06:41So they said, no, did I go to spring training?
06:44Maybe the first week of spring training, they asked me again.
06:47I said, absolutely not.
06:48And then I got to like the last four days and, um, they pretty much told me that if
06:53I don't go over there, they're releasing me.
06:55I mean, so I really didn't have a choice.
06:57I think, I think the guys like you, uh, really got like put in like the middle.
07:03It was really difficult.
07:04I mean, not many of those, not many of those replacing players actually later.
07:08So now you take, now you take it to when I'm up there with the Yankees, years later,
07:13and I'm on the plane and I got Jeff Nelson, David Cohn, Chili Davis, you know, all the
07:18reps and they pulled me to the back of the plane and they're like grilling me on why
07:23I would do something like that.
07:24So I, you know, I'm almost in tears cause I'm getting ridiculed by my teammates.
07:29They weren't being mean or anything, but you know, I didn't really have a choice and
07:33it was, it was a difficult time.
07:35Um, to this day, I don't get any royalties.
07:38So like, you won't see my name.
07:40Yeah.
07:41You were not on the 1998 championship shirt.
07:43I remember them talking about that.
07:44Yep.
07:45Same thing with Rick Green on the Mets.
07:46Yes.
07:47He had that same difficulty.
07:48I remember in 1995 and I later played on your, later a teammate of yours, John Franco.
07:56Oh yeah.
07:57I love me some Johnny Franco.
07:59No, I remember.
08:00He's a peach.
08:01I remember during the, uh, the whole incident, during the, uh, the replacement spring, John
08:07Franco basically said that if this is other walks of life, some of them might find themselves
08:11with the broken legs and stuff like that.
08:13Right?
08:14I know.
08:15Yeah.
08:16He made like a, like a really bad statement.
08:17Like you got some, got some hot water for that one.
08:19Well, even like when I changed teams, I, uh, they say the Mets and you're talking to Tom
08:24Glavin and, uh, lighter.
08:26You're talking to these guys Piazza and they want to know, they want to know why.
08:30I want to know why you did something like that.
08:32So I explained it to them and, you know, next thing you know, it's, you know, we're still
08:35all friends and stuff, but it's something that's asked all the time.
08:39I tried to, uh, actually, when I went, tried to get back into the union, I told them,
08:44I said, we need to start up like a rookie seminars and stuff that help players.
08:48Like we're in my situation.
08:49Yeah.
08:50I mean, you guys.
08:51And, um, so, but you know, obviously they probably do stuff like that now, but they
08:56didn't at the time.
08:57And I wasn't represented by an agent.
08:59So I mean, the consequences were, you know, they told me, Hey, it worked out.
09:03Cause they said, Hey, you're going to play every day, but you're going to be playing
09:06a ball.
09:07And I said, wait a minute.
09:08I get to play every day.
09:09They said, yeah, but if you don't do good, you're going to get released.
09:11And so I, I played every day and I'm getting MVP of the league and the rest was
09:17history.
09:18I, you know, obviously not getting the royalties is a lot of money, but, um, man, I made it
09:23to the big leagues and got the players.
09:25Great, great teams, great players.
09:26There's only about maybe one dozen.
09:27So I know Brian Dahlbach was another one.
09:29Yeah.
09:30Kevin Millar.
09:31I believe Kevin Millar too.
09:32Um, I mean, those are all guys that we, I came up with too, at the same time.
09:38You know, it really was like the mid-level prospect who was put in that position.
09:43Well, I mean, if you didn't say no, your career could be ended.
09:46Well, I, when I went to the meeting with the player union, they told me like, did you just
09:51want to play with Buck Sherwater?
09:52I said, I didn't even know who Buck Sherwater was.
09:54Okay.
09:55I'm an A ball.
09:56I don't know anything.
09:57Come on.
09:58I'm not even thinking about big leagues.
09:59I'm thinking maybe I can make it a double A or something.
10:01So it's, uh, it was tough and I stopped answer those questions.
10:05But, you know, you just try not to be embarrassed about it and you speak the honest truth about
10:10it and move on.
10:11Now, you mentioned that your, your, your best year was your, your first year.
10:16Yes.
10:17And then you played a little bit with Cleveland and Texas and ended up on the Nets.
10:20Yep.
10:21Yep.
10:22Let's not talk about that season.
10:25That season.
10:26Yeah.
10:27It was, you know, that was, I loved it.
10:28I actually really enjoyed playing there.
10:30Um, we had a lot of, we had a lot of injuries.
10:33I mean, I ended up playing center field.
10:35Me, I've never played center field since high school.
10:37So I'm playing center field at Shea Stadium.
10:40Looking back like, Oh my God, this place is big.
10:42It's huge.
10:43So, uh, there was a lot of stuff going on.
10:46You know, I got hurt.
10:47Then while I was hurt rehabbing, I got in trouble and, you know, ended up getting released.
10:52And so, you know, now that I'm into coaching and stuff like that and coached all over the place,
10:57you know, I, it's a, it's a good conversation with the young players.
11:00Like, Hey, what not to do, especially off the field.
11:03So it's, it's helped me in that part.
11:05You know, obviously not in my career, but it's helped me at least, you know, get in touch with the younger kids.
11:11Now, after your season of Mets, you played in Japan.
11:15Yes.
11:16What was that experience like?
11:18It was awesome.
11:19I sucked, but it was awesome.
11:22You know, I was coming off.
11:23I hurt my shoulder with the Mets, ended up having surgery in October.
11:27And, uh, I didn't even, they asked me to go over there.
11:30I said, that'd be great.
11:31I got to pass the physical.
11:32Well, I don't know how I passed it, but I did.
11:34So I didn't do very good the first year until the end of the year.
11:39And then we won the championship over there.
11:41Uh, Hanshin tiger is a great place for like 55,000 people every night.
11:45It's like playing at Yankee stadium.
11:47And, uh, I really enjoyed it.
11:49I would have loved to stay over there.
11:50I always like kids to buzz in the crowd with either of, uh, from Japan.
11:55I've always liked that.
11:56And one day maybe I'll get out to Japan.
11:57Oh, it's awesome.
11:58It really is.
11:59They take it so seriously and they don't leave until the game's over.
12:03Um, you know, I got to play, get some good players over there that came over here and played.
12:08And then right now I got two, two of the Korean players that I had are over here now.
12:13Ha-Sung Kim and, uh, Jung-Koo Lee that's with the Giants who killed the Yankees.
12:18So those are two of my players over in Korea.
12:20So it's good to see them come over here and be successful.
12:23So I've had some good experiences.
12:24That's for sure.
12:25Now you've mentioned that you're in coaching and you coached in Korea.
12:27Yep.
12:28What's going on with that right now when you're coaching your career?
12:32Oh, I mean, now I'm up in Connecticut.
12:35I do, um, high school kids.
12:37Me and my buddy Brian Looney, he picks a little bit in the big leagues.
12:40He's got a baseball facility.
12:41So he, he does a really good job of getting these kids into colleges.
12:46That's, that's his main focus, trying to get them there.
12:48Um, I do like the hitting outfield, base running, stuff like that.
12:52And then I'll have one of the teams when they get out of school and I'll have them during the summer.
12:56Now I hear that you try to build the baseball program for Ireland.
13:01Well, they, they're going back and forth with that.
13:04I mean, we're trying to make it even touch base with like Sean Casey and like try to make it happen.
13:09Um, the one thing with Ireland, they're making, they're making it kind of difficult for the players here that are Irish players.
13:16Cause they got to have a dependent, like an active dependent from Ireland, you know?
13:21So like their grandma has to be a living over there, the visa.
13:24So Italy doesn't do it.
13:26Some of these other teams don't do it.
13:28So Mike has done a great job.
13:30Yeah. So they don't have their country doesn't make them do that.
13:33So the limited access. So I've coached the team a couple of times, like some of the players that might go over there.
13:40But if you took all the big league players, they would, they could put a good team together, but they unfortunately don't get to do that.
13:47So at champions, there's always a lot of good, you see, it's not about the, uh, players playing over there.
13:55It's about building the sports program over there.
13:57Absolutely. Absolutely.
13:58And growing the game.
13:59Yeah. And I would love to get over there and do baseball in the morning and to go play some golf and lose about a hundred balls, you know?
14:05Cause.
14:06Yes. Uh, I know that they've had, uh, Ron Bomberg and, uh, Art Chamsky have built a program in Israel.
14:13We got Piazza, as I mentioned.
14:15Yep.
14:16England's now trying to build a program.
14:18Yeah.
14:19I don't understand why Ireland won't.
14:20They just, they're very strict on their visa part and that's, it's been holding them back for a little while.
14:25So we'll see it maybe down the road, we'll make it happen.
14:28But I know that Sean Casey was also interested in something to do with it.
14:31So that would have been great if we could have connected and made something happen, but they are really strict on, on how they, how they do it.
14:38Well, let's hope you get that moving a little bit.
14:41Yeah.
14:42Uh, and, uh, continued success with your coaching and, uh, and good work.
14:46You know, I remember that 98 season that would, uh, you got onto cover Sports Illustrated.
14:51Yes.
14:52That's right.
14:53And I got the Sports Illustrated Jinx.
14:55No, I had some, I mean, I was very fortunate to play on some really good teams with some great, not only players, but great people.
15:03You know, I grew up with Mariano.
15:05We got drafted the same year, uh, with Carl Leavitt that year, Mike Figa.
15:09And then, you know, then here comes Pettit Posada the next year and then Jeter.
15:13So we all, obviously they jumped, they jumped me real quick, but it was good.
15:18George was, uh, I love George.
15:20George was awesome.
15:21Yeah, he was.
15:22He was strict on the front office and coaching staffs, but he treated the players.
15:25We had, we always had stuff.
15:27He needed to chill out for a while.
15:29Well, I could tell you the worst thing about him.
15:32It's the only thing is like, if you strike out in Boston and he's there, he's sitting right by the dugout.
15:36He's just sitting there like, what an idiot.
15:39You suck.
15:40And you got to accept it.
15:41Cause it's a long walk from that.
15:42Well, I tell you what, if I was an owner, I'd probably be like George Cybert.
15:45I'm, I could be a little impatient sometimes.
15:47He was, but he was super generous.
15:49I mean, love the guy.
15:51Um, I have no regrets about getting drafted by the Yankees.
15:54Even though I didn't want to play for the Yankees, it ended up working out like really, really good.
15:59Well, thanks for joining us and, uh, really good luck in the future.
16:03I appreciate it.
16:04And keep on going.
16:05Alright, thanks.
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