Mike Greenwell passed away yesterday at the age of 62. Greenwell was a Boston Red Sox legend, playing a key role in American League East divisional titles, slamming doubles against Fenway Park’s Green Monster, and snagging line drives in Left Field before they hit the Green Monster. The great sportswriter Ian Browne of MLB.com beat me to it in his beautiful article remembering the life and significance of Greenwell in left, “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.“

High praise indeed, thank you for that Ian Browne. Mike Greenwell, or Gator to most of his Red Sox fans, was a staple in the Boston Red Sox lineup for close to 12 years. Gator was built like Reggie Jackson, strong and physical player, who hit rockets into the right field bullpens and lasers to left crashing into Fenway’s Green Monster. His best year, perhaps, was 1988. His stats are eye-popping – .325 average, 39 doubles (to match his uniform number), 22 home runs, 119 runs batted in, and a 2nd place in the AL MVP race. And the best stat of all, 158 games played. A guy named Canseco won it by hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases, otherwise Gator would have been a shoe in for the MVP award. For many seasons, Mike Greenwell was a great Boston Red Sox player.

Greenwell was drafted out of high school, North Fort Myers High School (Florida) to be exact, in the 1983 MLB Draft. Gator was chosen in the 3rd Round, played his minor league baseball in Winston-Salem and Pawtucket, then made his MLB debut in 1985. Greenwell would be up and down in his first 2 years before becoming a mainstay in the 1987 season, where he finished 4th in the AL Rookie of the Year award. You may have heard of the guy who won it in 1987, Oakland A’s slugger Mark McGwire.

Interestingly, after hearing of his passing, I looked through my baseball cards, my old baseball magazines, to see if I had any photos or cards of Greenwell. I have his name on a poster I won at an auction some years back at a Boston Celtics game. And in a book entitled “Fenway 100”, there is a photo of Gator parading around Fenway Park on a police horse after a big Red Sox victory. As you see from earlier in this article, I have Boston Red Sox playing cards, which feature Red Sox greats, like Greenwell. And then I remembered an encounter I had with Gator about 10 years ago. In Florida, at his batting cage/mini golf/fun park.

For about 20 years or so, my father lived and worked in Fort Myers, Florida. When my kids were younger, on select school vacations, to escape the cold of Rhode Island winters, I would take the kids to Florida to visit with my Dad, check out the beaches of Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach, and spend some quality time with family. One trip I noticed a mini golf and batting cage on the way to our vacation hotel from the Fort Myers Airport. I made a mental note to look it up when we got to the hotel, so we could possibly check it out at some point in the trip. When I found out who the owner was, well, I just had to make it a point of interest to go there. And we did. And he was there. And he said hi to us.

Gator was fixing one of the go karts when we arrived at the Go-Kart area. He simply looked up from his work and said “hello.” Nothing flashy or outrageous so I returned the hello and added a good morning. Gator went about his business and I was thrilled to have had two seconds of his time to meet him. I pointed him out to my kids and Rachel and told them who he was. His legendary place in Red Sox history. The fact that he had taken off the mantle of Left from Rice and Yaz and Ted Williams. The vacationers listened and then headed over to be fitted for their Go-Karts. I stood and waited to see if Gator would come out again and thought of something clever to say. But, sadly, he did not. He was working and I respected that and so we moved on with our day at the Fun Park.

It was sad to read of Mike Greenwell’s passing. I remember meeting him and saying hi to him like it was yesterday. I’m not sure if the Greenwell family still has a stake in the Family Fun Park because when I looked it up, it read Cape Coral Family Fun Adventure. My kids are older now, they probably don’t recall meeting this Red Sox legend. For me, I will always cherish that greeting and the memories I have of watching Mike Greenwell all those years in a Boston Red Sox uniform. RIP Gator.