Mike Greenwell, who spent his whole 12-year main league profession within the Pink Sox outfield, died this week. He was 62.
Greenwell introduced in August that he had been identified with medullary thyroid most cancers. He did so on Gulf Coast News, the native station in Florida’s Lee County, the place he had served as county commissioner since 2022 and the place the Pink Sox make their spring coaching residence in Fort Myers.
Drafted by Boston within the third spherical in 1982, Greenwell debuted with the ’85 Pink Sox and had the unenviable activity of succeeding Corridor of Fame outfielder Jim Rice in left area. ‘The Gator’ rose to the problem with aplomb, hitting .303 with a .831 OPS, 1,400 hits (275 doubles, 38 triples, 130 residence runs), 657 runs and 726 RBI over 1,269 profession video games. Maybe most spectacular, particularly when considered by way of the lens of at this time’s swing-for-the-fences fashion of hitting, had been his 460 walks, which far eclipsed his 364 strikeouts.
“He was an excellent teammate and a good higher particular person,” mentioned Bob Stanley, Greenwell’s teammate from 1985-89. “He had large footwear to fill in left area, and he did a rattling good job. He performed arduous and by no means forgot the place he got here from – Fort Myers. Only a nice man. We’ll all miss him.”
Greenwell’s first full season was ’87, when he performed 125 video games and completed fourth in American League Rookie of the 12 months voting. Again-to-back All-Star picks adopted, in addition to his solely Silver Slugger Award and a second-place end to future teammate Jose Canseco for AL MVP in ’88.
Statistically, Greenwell was one of the vital dependable hitters in franchise historical past. He stays top-30 in a number of metrics, together with profession Wins Above Alternative (each Place Participant and Offensive), on-base and slugging percentages, walks, and stolen bases, and top-20 in hits and extra-base hits, runs, RBI, complete bases, sacrifice flies, runs created, and Win Chance Added (WPA). He and Invoice Mueller are tied Fifteenth-best batting common, and Greenwell is tied with JD Martinez for twenty fifth in Pink Sox residence runs. Greenwell performed the 14th-most Pink Sox video games, and ranked even larger earlier than David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, and Dustin Pedroia got here alongside quickly after. Solely six Pink Sox gamers had been ever hit by extra pitches.
“He was fearless on the plate, standing nearer than anybody I’ve ever seen,” mentioned 1985-90 Pink Sox teammate Marty Barrett. “I cherished enjoying alongside him for nearly my whole profession; it was fairly wonderful. We are going to miss him vastly.”
On X (previously Twitter), teammate Wade Boggs reacted to the information with three emojis: a crying face, prayer arms, and a damaged coronary heart.
Within the waning years of Boston’s 86-year championship drought, Greenwell supplied a few of the membership’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, his second inside-the-parker off Yankees lefty Greg Cadaret in a span of 14 months. At Seattle’s Kingdome on Sept. 2, 1996, Greenwell drove in all 9 runs in a 9-8 Tenth-inning Labor Day victory that Mariners supervisor Lou Piniella described to reporters as “Every week’s work. Two week’s work.”
Almost a decade earlier than Kevin Millar made “Cowboy Up!” the rallying cry of the ’03 squad, Greenwell embodied a time period that might ultimately change into iconic in Boston. On Sept. 20, 1995, after the Pink Sox clinched the AL East title, he hoisted himself onto a Boston police horse and pumped his fists within the air triumphantly. It was one in all 4 postseasons the Pink Sox reached throughout his profession.
When his time with the Pink Sox got here to an finish, Greenwell signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league, however accidents minimize his encore brief.
“Mike was a beautiful ballplayer who at all times performed arduous,” mentioned Dwight Evans, Greenwell’s teammate from 1985-91. “He was deeply concerned within the Fort Myers neighborhood and gave a lot of himself to others. You at all times wished to be round him — I actually loved my time with him. He was a gamer in each sense of the phrase, and he will likely be deeply missed.”
Dwelling in Fort Myers, Greenwell’s life after baseball remained intertwined with the Pink Sox. They inducted him into their Corridor of Fame in 2008.
“It’s with deep unhappiness that we announce the passing of Commissioner Mike Greenwell, a lifelong Lee County resident,” the Lee County Authorities Facebook page introduced on Thursday afternoon. “He was a powerful advocate for the individuals and companies of Lee County and will likely be remembered for in search of significant options to the challenges his neighborhood confronted.”
“Time heals all wounds,” Greenwell properly advised the Boston Herald throughout spring coaching ’95, after the longest work stoppage in MLB historical past famously truncated the ’94 season in August and led to the primary October and not using a World Sequence since 1904, “however we haven’t had a lot time but.”
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