LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Lee County government officials have confirmed that District 5 County Commissioner Mike Greenwell has died following a battle with thyroid cancer.
WATCH: FOX 4's Eric Lovelace tells us about his life:
Greenwell represented part of North Fort Myers, Alva, and Lehigh Acres.
What did neighbors say?
"He would always help people out around here, and it was always nice," said Larry Nisbet, a former fire chief and longtime friend of Greenwell.
After his baseball career ended, Greenwell built Family Fun Park in Cape Coral with his wife. The venue was later renamed "Gator Mike's Family Fun Park" in his honor.
"He didn't go some place else and live, when he finished his baseball career he came back to Southwest Florida," Nisbet said.
Greenwell attended North Fort Myers High School, where he played football and baseball before making it to the major leagues. Even with his fame, those close to him say he remained humble and approachable.
Darrell Halk, who helped coordinate autograph signings for Greenwell, said fame never changed him.
"When he was spending time with you, he was with you," Halk said.
Fans remember Greenwell's genuine interactions during public appearances.
"Mike Greenwell was like, what're you rushing for, no one's going anywhere, I'll take a picture with you, then he talked to me for a couple minutes," Eric Sheehan said.
The former Boston Red Sox player returned to Fort Myers after a 12-year-professional baseball career.
The Boston Red Sox posted on X:
"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."
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. pic.twitter.com/WyA14dYu0E
— Red Sox (@RedSox) October 9, 2025
Gator Mikes in Cape Coral on Pine Island Road which is named after the famous baseball player who owned it for 27 years, posted on Facebook about the passing:
"It is with an extremely heavy heart to hear of the passing of Michael Lewis Greenwell. We pass our prayers onto his entire family at this time of great sadness. Mike and his family built an amazing Family Fun Park in the Heart of Cape Coral in 1992. For 27 years it was a place of joy and fun and memories for so many people. We were truly honored and humbled to have taken over such a storied property. We named it Gator Mikes Family Fun Park as a tribute to "The Gator" Mike Greenwell."
Governor Ron Desantis appointed Greenwell to the Lee County Board of County Commissioners - a seat formerly held by late commissioner Frank Mann.
“The Gator” was better known for his baseball exploits than his political career.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Greenwell spent most of his childhood in Florida and played baseball and football at North Fort Myers High School.
Greenwell played his entire major league career for Boston, making two All-Star appearances, winning the 1988 Silver Slugger Award and finishing second in that year's MVP voting to Oakland Athletics outfielder Jose Canseco. Greenwell was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008.
He made his big league debut in 1985 and appeared in 31 games on the 1986 American League champions, who lost 4-3 to the New York Mets in a World Series filled with heartbreak for the Red Sox.
In 1987, Greenwell emerged as Boston's full-time left fielder, taking over the position previously occupied by three MVPs — Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice — who would later become Hall of Famers.
Although he fell short of those luminaries, the left-handed-hitting Greenwell had a solid career, finishing with a lifetime batting average of .303, 130 home runs, 726 RBIs and 80 stolen bases.
“He was a great teammate and an even better person," right-handed pitcher Bob Stanley said. “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.”
His best season came in 1988, when he batted .325 with 22 homers, 119 RBIs and 16 stolen bases and hit for the cycle in a September game. Greenwell also delivered a then-AL record 23 game-winning RBIs, a statistic that is no longer recognized by Major League Baseball, and he drove in all of Boston's runs in a late-season 9-6 victory over Seattle.
That put him in the MVP mix. When Canseco later acknowledged he was using steroids that season, Greenwell asked, “Where's my MVP?”
Greenwell earned his nickname for a spring training incident in which he captured an alligator, taped its mouth shut and put it in a teammate's locker in Florida.
He played an abbreviated final season in Japan, retiring suddenly after just seven games because of a fractured right foot he suffered on a foul ball.
After his playing career, Greenwell moved into auto racing. He began competing in late-model stock cars in 2000 and made two starts in NASCAR's Truck Series in 2006. He retired in 2010.
“You always wanted to be around him — I truly enjoyed my time with him,” former Boston outfielder Dwight Evans said. "He was a gamer in every sense of the word, and he will be deeply missed.”
Greenwell and his wife had two sons, Bo and Garrett.
