WESTERLY — A Westerly High School freshman hustled for months to land an exclusive interview this week with Major League Baseball’s head honcho — and the 14-year-old didn’t throw him softball questions.

Andrew Fiore’s phone interview Monday with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred took less than 15 minutes, but Fiore was well-prepared and got Manfred to open up on atlanta braves jersers a wide range of topics relating to the American pastime.

He had a good reason for talking atlanta braves jersers with Manfred. Fiore is a staff writer for The Barker, Westerly High School’s student-run news organization, which has its own website instead of a printed edition.

“This interview was a great opportunity for me,” Fiore, who uses a small laptop computer, said in his story. “Commissioner Manfred was atlanta braves jersers easy to talk to and I got a view into the future of baseball concerning All Star sites and expansion.”

Fiore said he was interested pittsburgh pirates jersers in the commissioner’s reaction to a recent statement from Tony Clark, blue mookie betts authentic jersers a former first baseman washington nationals jersers and now the director of the MLB Players Association, the labor union that represents the players.
Clark was quoted last week as saying miami marlins jersers that teams “are not signing free agents so they can lose more and in turn, get better draft picks and build up a stronger team.”

Manfred disputed Clark’s claim in his talk with Fiore.

“He said, ‘I disagree entirely,’” Fiore said.wholesale baseball jersers

Manfred maintained that all the teams have a desire to win, and that he doesn’t see the need for changes to ensure that “fundamental motivation.”

The commissioner and Fiore also covered hot topics like start times for World Series games, whether the Montreal Expos could return as a major league team (the team relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005 and became the Nationals), and which cities might host future All-Star games.

“He did mention Los Angeles and Chicago los angeles angels of anaheim jersers as possible host cities,” Fiore said.

Manfred was oakland athletics jersers elected as the 10th commissioner of baseball in 2014. He washington nationals jersers has worked full-time for Major League Baseball since 1998. Manfred took over for previous commissioner Bud Selig in January 2015.

The road to landing an chicago cubs jersers interview with Manfred actually began with a newspaper field trip to New York City in November. The MLB offices are in Times Square, and Fiore was looking for something to do during his free time while visiting.

It was his mom, Eileen, who suggested calling to try to get an interview.

He thought the idea was “ridiculous” at first, but, he thought, “I might as well try it.”

“I originally called the office, because I knew I was going to be in town in November,” he said.