Mike Greenwell, who spent his entire 12-year MLB career in the Red Sox outfield and was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 2008, died this week. He was 62.
Greenwell announced in August that he had been diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer. He did so on Gulf Coast News, the local station in Lee County, where he had served as county commissioner since 2022 and where the Red Sox make their spring training home.
Drafted by Boston in the third round in 1982, Greenwell had the unenviable task of succeeding Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Jim Rice in left field. ‘The Gator’ handled the tall order with aplomb and rose to the occasion, hitting .303 with a .831 OPS, 1,400 hits (275 doubles, 38 triples, 130 home runs), 657 runs and 726 RBI over 1,269 career games. Perhaps most impressive, especially when viewed through the lens of today’s swing-for-the-fences style of hitting, were his 460 walks, which far eclipsed his 364 strikeouts.
Greenwell debuted with the Red Sox in 1985, but his first full season came two years later, when he played 125 games for the ’87 team. He finished fourth in American League Rookie of the Year voting that season, followed by back-to-back All-Star selections. In ’88, he won his only Silver Slugger Award and placed second to Jose Canseco for AL MVP. Statistically, he was one of the most reliable hitters in franchise history, a top-30 player in career Wins Above Replacement (both Position Player and Offensive), on-base and slugging percentages, walks, triples, and stolen bases; top-20 in hits, extra-base hits, doubles, runs, RBI, times on base, total bases, sacrifice flies, runs created, and Win Probability Added (WPA). He tied with Bill Mueller for 15th-best batting average, tied with JD Martinez for 25th in Red Sox home runs, and only six Red Sox players were ever hit by more pitches. Greenwell played the 14th-most Red Sox games, and ranked even higher before David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, and Dustin Pedroia came along soon after.
In the waning years of Boston’s 86-year championship drought, Greenwell provided some of the club’s most memorable moments. He hit for the cycle in 1988, and hit a Fenway Park inside-the-park grand slam on Sept. 1, 1990; it was his second inside-the-park homer off Yankees lefty Greg Cadaret in a span of 14 months.
Nearly a decade before Kevin Millar made “Cowboy Up!” the rallying cry of the ’03 squad, Greenwell embodied a term that would eventually become iconic in Boston. On Sept. 20, 1995, after the Red Sox clinched the AL East title, he hoisted himself onto a Boston police horse and pumped his fists in the air triumphantly.
When his time with the Red Sox came to an end, Greenwell signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, but injuries cut his encore short.
Greenwell’s life after baseball remained intertwined with the Red Sox. He lived in Fort Myers, Fla. and served as Lee County commissioner.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Commissioner Mike Greenwell, a lifelong Lee County resident,” the Lee County Government Facebook page announced on Thursday afternoon. “He was a strong advocate for the people and businesses of Lee County and will be remembered for seeking meaningful solutions to the challenges his community faced.”
