Two Former Italian / American Players Named Mike Fiore

Michael Gary Joseph Fiore was born on October 11, 1944 in Brooklyn, New York. He was another of the 21 future major leaguers to graduate from Brooklyn’s Lafayette High. Fiore was selected by the home town New York Mets in 1963 as a first baseman. That season he hit .268 at their A ball Quincy team. He was drafted away by the Baltimore Orioles the next year, hitting over 20 HRs twice in their system & batting .300 one time. He got a cup of coffee for six games in 1968 but went only 1-17 with the Orioles. That same year he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the expansion draft. Fiore put his name in the record books hitting the first HR in Royals history, on April 13th 1969 off Blue Moon Odom in Oakland. He had his best season in 1969 during the Royals first year of existence.

He led the team with one of the league’s best on base percentages (.420) hitting .274 (second best on the club) with 12 HRs (3rd most on the club) 14 doubles & 35 RBIs. He was the clubs main first baseman playing in 107 games, making 10 errors at the position. After that season ne could never seem to hit again at the major league level. In parts of the next three seasons he never hit over .200 again.

In May of 1970 he was traded to Boston for Tommy Matchick, and then eventually was sent to St. Louis & San Diego all during the 1972 season. He hit for a total of .063 going 1-16. He went back to the minor leagues, playing at the AAA level through 1978. He spent a total of 13 seasons in the minors hitting 152 HRs with 408 RBIs & a .272 average. His legacy will always live on with a series of Topps baseball cards from 1970-1072.

Michael T. Fiore was born on May 4, 1966. This Mike Fiore went on to be a star baseball player at the University of Miami in the 1980’s. In 1985 he was a key player on their National Championship team, the following year he was the teams sole representative on the All Tournament team. The 1986 Hurricanes got to the College World Series again but lost in the 14th game. In 1987 Fiore won the first ever Dick Howser Trophy which is the baseball equivalent of The Heisman Trophy.

Fiore went on to play outfield for the 1988 US Olympic Baseball team, that won the Gold Medal in Seoul Korea. Team mates included Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Charles Nagy, Jim Abbott, Andy Benes, Ed Sprauge, Scott Servais, Ben McDonald & Mickey Morandini. Fiore also won Silver Medals on Team USA in the 1987 Pan American Games & the 1989 World Baseball Cup.

Fiore was signed to the Cardinal organization but never made it to the big league squad. He played three minor league seasons batting a career .261. After playing he worked USA Baseball eventually becoming a general manager. After that he worked for the offices of Scott Boras who was his agent in his playing days.