Mike Greenwell, an original

Editor’s note: This week, I’m running a week-long tribute to some of my favorite players, stretching from my earliest days to the present.

The Gator anchored the Boston lineup.

By the time I was through with third grade, I’d become all too familiar with the reality of retiring athletes. That summer, Larry Bird had hung up his sneakers and Jim Rice had long since hit his last home run.

While not quite on the same level, Dwight Evans was no longer patrolling Fenway Park’s right field in 1991, nor was he penciled in at designated hitter. He actually was playing, a fact revealed by the next year’s baseball cards depicting him in a Baltimore Orioles uniform, but my level of fandom was still at a point where I didn’t realize he was still playing. I knew the history; he’d come up with Boston in 1972, had played forever, hit home runs, threw runners out with ease with his cannon of a right arm, and now that he wasn’t there, he must’ve been gone.

The transition to a new favorite player was necessary, and the choice was obvious. Mike Greenwell, a two-time All-Star, featured player in the 1989 Panini sticker album, and owner of a seemingly unique uniform number (39) was the way to go.