THE PERKS OF WINNING THE WORLD SERIES!

Just around the time the baseball world will be getting ready for spring training next season, a handful of New York Yankee stars will turn up on Spike TV.
CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher all will be featured in early episodes of "Unique Auto Sports: Miami," a new series that follows New York car customizer Will Castro and his new shop in the heart of the South Florida car world.

"You're going to be seeing them with their families, you're going to see a different side of them," Castro told the Daily News Wednesday. "You're going to see how big they are into their cars."

Castro hooked up with the Yankee players earlier this year when the team was in Tampa for spring training. He is no stranger to fame, after customizing celebrities' cars for years out of a Holbrook, N.Y., shop.

His work there turned into a series for the Speed network, which had its final season last November.

Since then he's closed his New York shop to focus on Miami, though he commutes back and forth along the coast because his family has remained here.

"It's been a really tough year," Castro said of his commute, his work building cars and creating the TV show. "My wife is a really big supporter. She wanted to wait for a year before moving."

Spike will begin airing "Unique Autosports: Miami" on Feb. 28 at 10:30 a.m. as part of the network's weekend "PowerBlock"gearhead lineup.

Castro said he met Burnett and Sabathia soon after they joined the Yankees. They gave him their cars in March, and he returned them several weeks later.

"We were actually talking about the season and what their expectations were," Castro said, noting that all worked out with the World Series title.

"It's going to be good," he said of the show. "[Viewers] get to see when they first started the quest for the championship."

Sabathia had Castro and his crew customize his Range Rover, while Burnett had them tweak a new Challenger. Swisher, Castro said, wanted work done on his Camaro.

"They're like big kids, with big toys," Castro said of the Yankee stars' love for cars. "They don't have so much free time on their hands, and when they do have a little bit, they enjoy their toys. A.J., he loves his Challenger. He wants the car right."

Other celebrities turning up on the show this season will include LeBron James, Sean Combs, Tony Stewart, Amare Stoudemire, Jermaine O'Neal, Fat Joe and Maurice Jones-Drew.

Castro said the move to Miami has changed the look and feel of the program. "We have so many clients, and they like to have fun with it," Castro said of the show.

"'Unique' has been a branded TV product, like 'Cribs' " at MTV, he said. "But we're cars."