BOSTON -- Mike Greenwell, who took over left field from Jim Rice in the late 1980s and emerged into a Red Sox Hall of Famer in his own right, died on Thursday after a battle with thyroid cancer. He was 62.
Greenwell's death was announced on Thursday by officials in Lee County, Fla., where he had served as a county commissioner since 2022.
A left-handed hitter who belted line drives all over the field, Greenwell finished second in the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award voting to Jose Canseco in 1988.
As the key cog for the AL East champion Red Sox that season, Greenwell had a batting line of .325/.416/.531 with 22 homers and 119 RBIs.
He ended the season with 7.5 bWAR and won a Silver Slugger Award.
“Mike was an unbelievable teammate and an unbelievable friend,” said former MLB outfielder Ellis Burks, who played with Greenwell for six seasons in Boston. “He and I were friends from Day 1. That’s a tremendous loss, not only to his family, but for me as well. It’s tough when you have a friend dealing with an illness for a while like that. My condolences go out to his family.”
Greenwell was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008.
The decline in Greenwell’s health was rapid. He told Fort Myers, Fla., TV station WBBH in August that he'd been diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer, the rarest form of the disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“Shocked,” said another Red Sox Hall of Famer, former catcher Rich Gedman. “You’d think you would hear about what’s going on, and sometimes you don’t and you find out after the fact. Way too young.”
Nicknamed by teammates throughout his career as “The Gator” for his brave habit of wrestling with alligators during his youth in Southwest Florida, Greenwell was known for his outgoing personality and candor with the media.
“He was always laughing,” said Marty Barrett, the second baseman who was the MVP of the 1986 ALCS. “An outstanding hitter. He was fearless at the plate, standing closer than anyone I’ve ever seen. I loved playing alongside him for almost my entire career; it was pretty amazing. We will miss him greatly.”
He played all 1,269 of his Major League games with the Red Sox, hitting .303 with 130 homers and an .831 OPS. One of the most underrated parts of Greenwell’s game? He had 460 walks compared to just 364 strikeouts over his 12-year career.
“The thing that was most special about him was he actually walked [almost 100 times] more than he struck out, which is unheard of,” said Gedman. “In this day and age, that’s a tough out.”
A third-round selection by the Sox in the 1982 MLB Draft, Greenwell started his career with an impressive 17-game cameo (.323 average, four homers in 34 plate appearances) in ‘85 and also played 31 games for Boston’s AL championship squad in ‘86, making the World Series roster.
During the ‘87 season, Greenwell became a regular in manager John McNamara’s starting lineup.
When Greenwell took over left field from Rice for good a season later, it was a position that carried a lot of weight in Boston.
The position in front of Fenway Park’s Green Monster was mostly occupied by a trio of legendary Hall of Famers from 1939-87 in Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Rice.
As Rice aged and transitioned to DH, Greenwell proved to be up to the challenge as the starting left fielder.
“He was a great teammate and an even better person,” said Bob Stanley, second all time for the Red Sox in saves. “He had big shoes to fill in left field, and he did a damn good job. He played hard and never forgot where he came from -- Fort Myers. Just a great guy. We’ll all miss him.”
Though he didn’t reach the status of his three predecessors, Greenwell was a core member of a team that had stars like Roger Clemens, Dwight Evans and Wade Boggs in the beginning, and Mo Vaughn later on. In fact, Greenwell even overlapped with late knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, best known for his contributions in the first decade of the 2000s, for two seasons.
“Mike was a wonderful ballplayer who always played hard. He was deeply involved in the Fort Myers community and gave so much of himself to others,” said Evans. “You always wanted to be around him -- I truly enjoyed my time with him. He was a gamer in every sense of the word, and he will be deeply missed.”
Greenwell and Burks led a group of young position players that helped Boston stay in contention in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Greenwell was right in the middle of a savored slice of Red Sox history known as “Morgan’s Magic,” when the club won 12 in a row and 19 out of 20 coming out of the ‘88 All-Star break while winning a franchise-record 24 straight games at home.
All of this after the club dismissed McNamara when the club was trailing by nine games at the All-Star break and hired little-known Joe Morgan of Walpole, Mass. Morgan managed Greenwell at Triple-A Pawtucket and for four seasons in Boston.
“Greenwell was one of my favorites,” said Morgan. “He didn’t start out great, but he worked hard and became a very good left fielder. He was fun to be around, happy-go-lucky. We’ll all miss him greatly.”
A notable highlight came in a 4-3 win over the Orioles at Fenway on Sept. 14, 1988, when Greenwell hit for the cycle and scored three runs.
“A lot of good moments we shared,” said Burks. “A lot of highs and lows, as far as winning and losing. Off the field, that’s a guy I used to hang out with quite a bit. We’d go to dinner, have a beer [in the hotel lobby] or wherever. He’s going to be missed.”
The fire that helped make Greenwell’s career a success got the best of him at times. In 1991, he got into a fight with teammate Vaughn during batting practice in Anaheim.
The incident came to be known as “The Rage in the Cage.”
Vaughn and Greenwell swiftly patched things up and respected each other throughout the rest of their time as teammates.
Greenwell was part of AL East champion Red Sox teams in 1986, ‘88, ‘90 and ‘95.
Though injuries had taken their toll by the late stages of Greenwell’s career, he saved perhaps the best individual game performance of his career for his final season.
On Sept. 2, 1996, playing in Seattle’s Kingdome, Greenwell went 4-for-5 with two homers and nine RBIs.
Greenwell is survived by his wife, Tracy, and their sons, Bo and Garrett.