Michael Thomas Fiore (born May 4, 1966) is an American amateur and professional baseball player. An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

, and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

, he batted from the right side and threw with his right hand.

Baseball career

Amateur

Fiore played college baseball for the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

from 1985 to 1988. He was a key contributor to their victory in the

1985 College World Series The 1985 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1985 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series ...

,Madden, W.C., and Patrick J. Stewart. ''The College World Series: A Baseball History'', McFarland: 2004, p. 155. and was the school's lone representative on the All-Tournament team at the

1986 College World Series The 1986 NCAA Division I baseball tournament was played at the end of the 1986 NCAA Division I baseball season to determine the national champion of college baseball. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing in the College World Series, ...

,Madden and Stewart, p. 158. where Miami was eliminated in the 14th game. The next year, he was the inaugural winner of the

Dick Howser Trophy The Dick Howser Trophy is bestowed annually to the national college baseball player of the year. The award is named after former collegiate and Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager Dick Howser, who died of brain cancer in 1987 at the a ...

Howser Award Winners
Baseball Weekly, June 6, 1996. He was ultimately inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.Baseball Inductees
", umsportshalloffame.com, accessed December 29, 2008. He won a silver medal as a member of the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball t ...

at the 1987 Pan American Games and remained a member of the national team in 1988, representing the United States at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

,1988 United States Olympic Team Roster
", USABaseball.com, accessed December 29, 2008. where America won a gold medal (unofficial due to the competition's status as a demonstration sport), and the 1988

Baseball World Cup The Baseball World Cup was an international tournament where national baseball teams from around the world competed. It was sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). Along with the World Baseball Classic, it was one of two acti ...

, where he won a silver medal and was recognized as the designated hitter on the tournament's All Star Team. Fiore was also one of nine finalists for the

Golden Spikes Award The Golden Spikes Award is bestowed annually to the best amateur baseball player in the United States. The award, created by USA Baseball and sponsored by the Major League Baseball Players Association, was first presented in 1978. It is given to ...

that year, which was awarded to

Robin Ventura Robin Mark Ventura (born July 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager. Ventura played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Do ...

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

.USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award - Yearly Winners and Finalists
, USABaseball.com, accessed December 28, 2008. Mike was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Professional

The

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

selected Fiore in the 15th round of the 1988 Major League Baseball Draft, but he never reached the major leagues. He played for the class A

Springfield Cardinals The Springfield Cardinals are a Minor League Baseball team based in Springfield, Missouri. They compete as a member of the Texas League's North Division. The Cardinals began play in 2005. The team is owned by the 11-time Major League Baseball ...

in 1989, the advanced class A St. Petersburg Cardinals in 1990, and the class AA

Arkansas Travelers The Arkansas Travelers, also known informally as The Travs, are a Minor League Baseball team based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Travelers are affiliated with the Seattle Mariners as members of the Texas League. History The team succeeded ...

in 1991.

Post-playing career

After his retirement as a player, he worked for USA Baseball, eventually advancing to the position of

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

."Lawes, Rick
Lee shines a powerful light on San Diego
, USA Today, April 15, 1997. He later joined the staff of sports agent

Scott Boras Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saskat ...

, who had been Fiore's representative during his playing career.Kepner, Tyler.
Agent to the superstars has soft spot for the 'common' player
, The International Herald-Tribune, December 3, 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fiore, Mike 1966 births Living people Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in baseball Miami Hurricanes baseball players Springfield Cardinals players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Sportspeople from Atlantic City, New Jersey Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in baseball Baseball players from New Jersey All-American college baseball players National College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games