Michael Lewis Greenwell was born on July 18, 1963 in Louisville, KY. Greenie debuted on September 5, 1985. Mike made his presence as a force known quickly as his first three hits were homeruns. He would only be used briefly making short stints for the Boston Red Sox before being sent back down to Pawtucket again. Greenwell was called up for the last time in late 1986, and would start as a Bosock in the 1987 season. The Fenway Faithful looked at Greenwell and saw hope that he could measure up to other great leftfielders they have seen in the past, like Yaz and The Kid. In his rookie season, Greenwell would not disappoint. He smacked 19 home runs and had a career best .328 batting average. He would finish third in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Mark McGwire and Kevin Seitzer.
Greenie would not get discouraged and would go on to have an awesome season in 1988. On September 12, 1988 Mike made the Orioles' pitchers look silly as he easily hit for the cycle, meaning a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. Greenwell would finish second in the MVP balloting behind bash brother Jose Canseco and ahead of Minnesota's legendary Kirby Puckett. What sticks out about Greenwell's 1988 season is his walk to strike out ratio of 2.29 walks per strike out! That's a good eye! Greenwell would also have an all star season in 1989, even though all of his numbers went down from his previous season.
On September 1, 1990, Greenie hit one of the rarest of hits in baseball, an inside-the-park grand slam off of New York Yankees pitcher Greg Cadaret, which makes it so much sweeter. Mike would see injury shortened seasons in 1992 and again in 1994. On September 2, 1996, Mike Greenwell proved that he was still a baseball powerhouse when he became the only player to knock in 9 runs, scoring all the offense for his team. No one has scored more than nine runs for their teams' total offense.
On December 18, 1996, Greenie said goodbye to Beantown and signed a one year contract with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese league. Mike would not see much playing time for them as he broke his leg 5 months later in May. Also in this year, Mike Greenwell became eligible to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame and has been on the ballot ever since. He has 9 more years of eligibility.
Mike suffered through the horrendous end of the 1986 season and would be an icon that the fans and writers would jump on when things were going bad. When things are going well, us Boston fans are quick to love, and show great appreciation for our team and its players. However, when things go bad we are quick to turn on them with harsh criticism, and after his 1988 and 1989 seasons, Greenie would receive the brunt of that criticism. A great player, and one of my idols while I was a little leaguer. I would love to see him return to the Red Sox organization in some form, like teammate Dwight Evans has.
According to sources that like to point out that I miss big obvious things in my write ups (thanks Orange_Julius), I must mention that besides Greenie, Mike Greenwell was often referred to as The Gator!
Statistics:
Number: 39
Position: Left Field
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 200
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Season Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
1985 Boston 17 31 7 10 1 0 4 8 3 4 1 0 .323 .382 .742 1.142
1986 Boston 31 35 4 11 2 0 0 4 5 7 0 0 .314 .400 .371 .771
1987 Boston 125 412 71 135 31 6 19 89 35 40 5 4 .328 .386 .570 .956
1988 Boston 158 590 86 192 39 8 22 119 87 38 16 8 .325 .416 .531 .947
1989 Boston 145 578 87 172 36 0 14 95 56 44 13 5 .308 .370 .443 .813
1990 Boston 159 610 71 181 30 6 14 73 65 43 8 7 .297 .367 .434 .801
1991 Boston 147 544 76 163 26 6 9 83 43 35 15 5 .300 .350 .419 .769
1992 Boston 49 180 16 42 2 0 2 18 18 19 2 3 .233 .307 .278 .658
1993 Boston 146 540 77 170 38 6 13 72 54 46 5 4 .315 .379 .480 .859
1994 Boston 95 327 60 88 25 1 11 45 38 26 2 2 .269 .348 .453 .801
1995 Boston 120 481 67 143 25 4 15 76 38 35 9 5 .297 .349 .459 .808
1996 Boston 77 295 35 87 20 1 7 44 18 27 4 0 .295 .336 .441 .777
Career Totals: G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS
1269 4623 657 1400 275 38 130 726 460 364 80 43 .303 .368 .463 .831
Sources:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/greenmi01.shtml
http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/G/Greenwell_Mike.stm
http://redsoxbaseball.tripod.com/players/greenwell.html
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/all_time_stats/players/g/3671/