Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell has died at the age of 62 after a long battle with thyroid cancer, the team announced in a tribute on their X account Thursday (October 9).
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Red Sox Hall of Famer Mike Greenwell. ‘The Gator’ spent his entire career in a Red Sox uniform and was a beloved fixture of Fenway and Fort Myers. He gave so much to Lee County and Sox Nation. We send our love to the Greenwell family,” the Red Sox wrote.
Greenwell spent his entire 12-year MLB career with the Red Sox after being selected by the franchise in the third-round of the 1982 MLB Amateur Draft and hit for a .303 average with 130 home runs and 725 RBIs. The Kentucky native made his debut in 1985 and was a member of the Red Sox’s American League championship team in 1986, as well as a two-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger Award winner in 1988 and a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.
Greenwell signed with the Hanshin Tigers of the Nippon Professional Baseball League in 1997 but left the team during spring training and returned to the United States, having suffered a herniated disc on a play diving for the ball. The outfielder was later hired as a player-coach for the Cincinnati Reds’ Double-A affiliate, the Chattanooga Lookouts, and was the interim hitting coach for the Reds during the 2001 season, when Ken Griffey Sr. took a medical leave of absence.
Greenwell also raced late model stock cars, including in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2010.
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