NILES - It's hard to imagine that a minor league baseball game could get the best of a World Series veteran who spent 12 years playing for the Boston Red Sox.
However, Mike Greenwell insists that when the Mahoning Valley Scrappers opened their season June 19 against Jamestown, he was the most nervous spectator at Eastwood Field.
Greenwell played left field for the Red Sox from 1985 to 1996. He retired with a .303 lifetime batting average, including 130 home runs and 726 RBI. In 1988, Greenwell was a leading contender to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award when he batted .325 with 22 home runs and 119 RBI.
The Red Sox appeared in the playoffs four times during Greenwell's career.
According to Greenwell, however, his own experiences as a player pale in comparison to the thrills of watching his own son perform at the professional level.
Mike's son Bo was drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Indians in 2007. After signing with the Indians in mid-July of that summer, he spent a year in the Gulf Coast League. He was recently added to the Scrappers' roster and has played well through the first few games of the season.
Bo enjoyed an outstanding multiple-sport career at Riverdale High School in Fort Myers, Fla. He passed for just under 2,000 yards his final two years as the football team's star quarterback and hit .396 over four years on the baseball team.