Man Crush Monday: Shane Spencer
Shane Spencer has had an incredible baseball career, having played for teams such as the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and New York Mets. He is a three time World Series champion (1998, 1999 and 2000) and earned himself the nickname Roy Hobbs.
However, his successful baseball career is not the reason why Football In High Heels is recognizing him for Man Crush Monday. The reason we chose him for this honor is for something he has been doing for the past several years out of the spotlight.
Shane Spencer now has a career as a baseball coach, working with kids from all walks of life. While he is more than happy to teach them about the game, he has a more important lesson he wants his students to learn: get an education.
While Shane is the first person to admit that he did not go the educational route, he does not want his students to follow in his footsteps. He stresses the importance of going to college and lets them know that although he got lucky in terms of his career, not everyone will have the same success.
Shane tells his students, who are aged 8-13, that he wishes he could have gone to school because now that his professional playing career is over, his options are limited when it comes to getting another job. He says he loves what he does, but wishes he could have gone to school so he could have had more options post-baseball.
He also makes sure to talk to the kids’ parents to make sure they are all on the same page. In fact, he takes time to have Q&A sessions with them so that they can ask questions and remind everyone that playing the game is a privilege, not a right. He adds that if the kids are not doing well in school, there will be no extracurriculars.
We are proud to recognize Shane Spencer for his work in educating the youth of America and makings sure they know that school is important.
