FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Jim Spencer, who played for five teams in a 15-year major league career, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 55.
Spencer worked in promotions and appeared at charity events for the New York Yankees, most recently playing Saturday night in a benefit game for the Joe DiMaggio Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. He died on Sunday.
A winner of two Gold Gloves as a slick-fielding first baseman, Spencer played in the 1973 All-Star Game and was a member of the Yankees' 1978 championship team.
A first-round pick of the California Angels, Spencer also played with the Yankees, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics.
Spencer was a career .250 hitter with 146 home runs and 599 RBI. He set career-highs with 23 homers and a .288 batting average in 1979 with New York.
Spencer retired after the 1981 season, but stayed active in baseball, serving as an assistant coach for Navy.
