A man claiming to be former New York Yankees outfielder Shane Spencer called into Albany sports radio station 104.5 The Team on Monday and gave an interview where he spoke about steroids among the Yankees.
Spencer played for the Yankees from 1998-2002, batting .263 with 43 home runs for the team while winning three World Series championships. In the interview, the person claiming to be Spencer made a steroids admission and apparently spoke about other members of those Yankees teams using ‘roids.
A podcast of the interview with the phony Spencer remained on 104.5 The Team’s website until being pulled down on Tuesday night after the station learned of the hoax. Word of the interview made its way to the Yankees clubhouse, leading Derek Jeter to have one of the team’s video coordinators call the real Spencer, who serves as the hitting coach Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.
“I listened to (the interview) for about a minute and I about threw up,” Spencer told ESPN New York on Tuesday. “I just want it out there that it wasn’t me.”
What’s odd is that the show’s host, Mike Lindsley, had been emailing Spencer over the weekend trying to set up an interview for Monday, but they could not settle on a time.
Spencer issued the following statement about the interview to ESPN New York and other outlets:
In response to an interview that ESPN Radio 104.5 FM host Mike Lindsley claims to have done with me on (Monday) afternoon, I would like to set the record straight that I did not participate in any such interview.
Someone called into the station claiming to be me and spoke on my behalf regarding some very sensitive topics surrounding baseball. This caller spoke as me about topics ranging from steroids, to my time with the New York Yankees, Roger Clemens, and my feelings about the great Mariano Rivera.
I am outraged that someone would do this and at the same time disappointed that the station believed it to be me despite not coming from the contact information they had for me.
I am hearing about this interview from friends, family, former teammates, and fans. It is very disappointing that someone was able to go on the air as me and speak for me about these topics.
I would like to set the record straight that the interview was not done with me and all the opinions were not mine.
In response to an interview that ESPN Radio 104.5 FM host Mike Lindsley claims to have done with me on (Monday) afternoon, I would like to set the record straight that I did not participate in any such interview.
Someone called into the station claiming to be me and spoke on my behalf regarding some very sensitive topics surrounding baseball. This caller spoke as me about topics ranging from steroids, to my time with the New York Yankees, Roger Clemens, and my feelings about the great Mariano Rivera.
I am outraged that someone would do this and at the same time disappointed that the station believed it to be me despite not coming from the contact information they had for me.
I am hearing about this interview from friends, family, former teammates, and fans. It is very disappointing that someone was able to go on the air as me and speak for me about these topics.
I would like to set the record straight that the interview was not done with me and all the opinions were not mine.
There hasn’t been much word from the station, but the show’s host, Mike Lindsley, did send this tweet on Tuesday:
No Yankee pre-game due to an internal matter. Thanks a lot.
— Mike Lindsley (@MikeLsports) August 13, 2013
Gee, I wonder what that “internal matter” could be.
Spencer has made the pages here at LBS on two occasions. For this, and an even weirder story last year.
