From ‘The Gator’ to the government: Mike Greenwell

What do a Lee County Commissioner and an amusement park in Fort Myers have in common? If the name Mike Greenwell sounds familiar to you, it’s not a coincidence. Our newest District 5 Lee County Commissioner, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, July 22, was the founder of Mike Greenwell’s Fun Park. DeSantis appointed him from among the five candidates vying for the seat that was held by the late Commissioner Frank Mann. 

While Greenwell will serve in his temporarily appointed seat until November 15, he is on the August 23 primary ballot and still must be elected to serve his first full term. He is running against former Lee County Commissioner John Albion and Joseph Gambino. The winner will face Democrat Matt Wood and Democratic write-in candidate Angela Chenaille of Fort Myers during the general election on November 8.

Greenwell is dedicated to winning the race and recently accounted to us many reasons why he cares so much about Lee County.

Greenwell’s background is all about fun and games. He played professional baseball right out of high school and stayed in the game until 1996, after becoming a baseball legend at North Fort Myers High School. He was also legendary on the professional diamond after finishing second in the voting for the American League‘s Most Valuable Player, losing first place to Jose Canseco. Mike “The Gator” Greenwell had two All-Star Game appearances and hit his last home run for the Boston Red Sox while maintaining a career batting average of .303.

In other words, he didn’t just bench it for those years … he was the heart of the game of baseball. And he didn’t bench it at home, either. Those years he was playing professional ball, he was giving back to his community in many ways.

At the age of 26 he founded Mike Greenwell’s Amusement Park. It had everything from batting cages to go-carts, as well as an arcade and carnival-type rides. He was still almost a kid himself, and he knew what kids wanted.

“I wanted to give back to the community, and what better way than to do something for families and kids,” he said. “We had it for 28 years, then sold it about three years ago.”

Greenwell also has a general contracting business called Big League Builders, which he is still actively involved in, and a local farm for families, called Produce 31. They feature “u-pick strawberries, blackberries and vegetables,” as well as a petting zoo. Again, he started the farm and the contracting business when he was still playing professionally, and he was always thinking of ways to help the community where he spent most of his childhood and still lives.

What brought Greenwell from the field of dreams to politics? His immediate answer is summed up in two words: Ronald Reagan.

At the age of 25, he and two other players received a very unusual invitation. It was from the White House, issued directly by President Ronald Reagan, and it asked them to come to lunch. He said that at first, he thought it was a joke. When he realized it was the real deal, he thought it was probably a lunch with 100 or so other people; that he would be but one in a crowd. 

“President Reagan was a baseball fan, and one day he was talking with the head of one of the Secret Service details who also loved baseball,” Greenwell explained. “The guy told President Reagan about me, and Reagan said he would love to have me come to lunch. The day of the lunch I walked into this giant room with a table that could literally fit 100 people … and it was just him, myself, the two other players and some Secret Service guys standing in the corner.”

At one point during the lunch Greenwell asked Reagan what made him want to become president. What the former president said changed his life. “Son, someday you’ll decide in your life that you’ll continue to sit down and be quiet, or you’ll stand up and say something. I certainly hope you guys will stand up and say something.”

Having already made a quiet statement in building the businesses that contributed so much to his home county, he realized a need to take it to the next level. “So, I guess I was kind of destined to do this at some time in my life,” Greenwell said.  

Greenwell has many points of concern regarding the current situation in Lee County, and water quality is among them. 

“I think the governor’s done a great job of trying to get this problem working in the right direction, and I do see positive signs of that,” he said, referring to a change in the political climate regarding Southwest Florida’s red tide and blue-green algae issues. “Our local commissioners are very aware of the situation. These guys have started trying to implement some local policies to make it better. I want to be a part of that. I want to join the team and see if I can help in that as well.”

Greenwell is going to be seated for his first County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 2. He is excited to start experiencing a new world of politics and hopes to make a difference for the better in his community.

“I still have to run and win this election,” he said. “I need everyone’s vote, if the voters believe in our governor and what he’s doing and and that he is going in the right direction in our state and in our area.

“I have lived here since I was 5, for 53 years of my life, in Lee County. I have never left here – I have raised my kids here and built my businesses here. I think this is paradise. Receiving the governor’s appointment only drives me more to keep the seat so I can continue to work to make Lee County a better place for generations to come.”