A career in front of the green wall probably won't be enough to land Mike Greenwell in the Hall.

He's a long shot on a short list.

Former Red Sox outfielder Mike Greenwell was among 11 first-time candidates on the Hall of Fame ballot mailed to voters on November 29 by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Voting runs through December 31 and results will be announced on January 8, 2002.

Ozzie Smith and Andre Dawson head the list of first time inductees. In addition to Greenwell, the other first-timers are Frank Viola, Mike Henneman, Jeff Russell, Scott Sanderson, Alan Trammell, Robby Thompson, Tim Wallach; and Lenny Dykstra.

Greenwell started his career as a late season call up in 1985 and concluded it after appearing in 77 games in 1996. In between, he appeared in two All Star games (1988, 89) and finished with a lifetime batting average of .303 while hitting 130 HR and 726 RBI. An expert at putting the ball in play, Greenwell walked (460) more than he struck out (364) in 4,623 at bats.

After an impressive rookie season in 1987, Greenwell finished fourth in Rookie of the Year balloting. His best season was in 1988 (.325, 22 HR 119 RBI) when he finished second for the American League MVP award to Oakland's Jose Canseco.

Greenwell is one of only 11 players in the history of the Red Sox to have played ten or more years in the major leagues, exclusively with Boston. Among the eleven were the three left fielders that patrolled the Green Monster prior to his arrival: Ted Williams (1939-60), Carl Yaztrzemski (1961-83), and Jim Rice (1974-89).

Williams and Yaztrzemski are both in the Hall of Fame while Greenwell joins Rice among the 17 holdovers from last year's ballot, when Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield were elected.

Rice finished fourth in the balloting last year with 57.8%. In order to gain admittance, players must be on 75% of the ballots.

Players with 10 or more seasons who have been retired for five years become eligible for the Hall. The voters are the members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America with at least 10 years' membership. There are approximately 500 voters.

A player remains of the ballot for 15 years unless he is picked on less than 5 percent of the votes. Former Red Sox Dwight Evans was removed from consideration after he was named on only 3.6% of the ballots in 1999.

Players removed from the ballot can be selected by the Veterans Committee, but not until 23 years after their retirement date.

Greenwell briefly returned to baseball in 2001, wearing his familiar #39, as the batting coach for the Cincinnati Reds AA affiliate in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He filled in as the Reds hitting coach when Ken Griffey Sr. took there weeks off to recuperate from neck and back soreness. While with the Reds, Greenwell broke his right hand when a ball hit him during batting practice.

Following the stint with the big league club, Greenwell resigned to return to his home in Fort Myers, where he owns several businesses, including Mike Greenwell's Bat-a-Ball Amusement Park in nearby Cape Coral, Florida.

Besides Greenwell and Rice, pitcher Luis Tiant (1971-78) represents the Red Sox on the 2002 ballot. The 28 official nominees are:

Bert Blyleven, Gary Carter, Dave Concepcion, Andre Dawson, Lenny Dykstra, Steve Garvey, Rich Gossage, Mike Greenwell, Ron Guidry, Mike Henneman, Keith Hernandez, Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Jim Rice, Jeff Russell, Scott Sanderson, Ozzie Smith, Dave Stewart, Bruce Sutter, Robby Thompson, Luis Tiant, Alan Trammell, Frank Viola, Tim Wallach.

Back to Greenwell one last time. Bob Ryan is a Boston Globe columnist and a Hall of Fame Voter. In his December 1st column "One opinion on ballot questions, " Ryan wrote:

"Mike Greenwell is on for the first (and last) time, and you will know whether or not each and every one of the voters is qualified, because whoever votes for Mike Greenwell should have his privilege lifted."

As Mr. Ryan should know, even Jim Deshaies received a vote in last year's balloting, thanks in part to the clever website, www.putjdinthehall.com.

The writer who gave Deshaies (84-95 with a 4.14 ERA in 11 seasons) the vote exclaimed, "I simply wanted to recognize a player like Deshaies because, frankly, Hall voters likely never will get that chance again."

Maybe somebody out there will feel that way about the "Gator." After all, he was at least twice as qualified as Jim Deshaies.