Mike Greenwell, Red Sox Hall of Famer, dies at 62

article

FILE-Mike Greenwell #39 of the Boston Red Sox poses for this photo by the bat rack before the start of a Major League Baseball game in 1989 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

Mike Greenwell, the longtime Boston Red Sox outfielder and two-time All-Star, has died. He was 62.

The Red Sox Hall of Famer passed away Thursday, his wife, Tracy Greenwell, confirmed to WINK, a radio station in Lee County, Florida. ESPN reported, citing the Boston Globe, that Mike Greenwell had medullary thyroid cancer.

"With a heavy heart, I lost my best friend today," Tracy Greenwell wrote on social media. "It was Mike’s time to be an angel. At 10:30 a.m. in Boston’s General Hospital. We are forever grateful for the life he has given us."

RELATED: Arthur Jones, Jon and Chandler Jones’ brother, dead at 39

"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, the Boston Red Sox organization wrote on X Thursday. "He gave so much to Lee County and Sox Nation. We send our love to the Greenwell family."

Lee County Manager Bruce Harner also announced Mike Greenwell’s death on the county government’s official Facebook account. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Greenwell to the county commission in 2022, and he was re-elected to the post in 2024.

Who was Mike Greenwell?

The backstory:

Mike Greenwell was born in Louisville, Kentucky but spent most of his childhood in Florida and played baseball and football at North Fort Myers High School, the Associated Press reported. 

In 1985, Greenwell made his big league debut and appeared in 31 games for the 1986 American League champions, who lost 4-3 to the New York Mets in a World Series.

Greenwell spent his entire 12-year MLB career with the Boston Red Sox, making two All-Star appearances, winning the 1988 Silver Slugger Award, and finishing second in that year’s MVP voting. He was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2008.

In 1988, Greenwell had a stellar season, batting .325 with 22 homers, 119 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Greenwell also had a then-AL record 23 game-winning RBIs, a stat no longer honored by Major League Baseball.

When Greenwell’s baseball career ended, he transitioned to auto racing and started competing in late-model stock cars in 2000 and made two starts in NASCAR’s Truck Series in 2006, and in 2010, he retired.

Greenwell is survived by his wife Tracy and their two sons, Bo and Garrett.