A Few More Homers and It’ll Be ‘That’s Mr. Spencer to You’

NEW YORK — Yankee owner George Steinbrenner told reporters he has never seen anything like this Shane Spencer craze in 20 years. “It’s a phenomenal thing,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Steinbrenner has seen Spencer, though.

The two met in Tampa Bay several years ago, when Spencer was participating in a mini-camp and Steinbrenner--what else?--was in town to fire the team’s minor league coordinators.

Steinbrenner recalled the meeting: “I saw Shane with his cap on backwards and asked him, ‘Do you like it here?’ He said, ‘Yeah,’ and I told him, ‘Then wear your hat like a Yankee and call me sir.’ ”