Michael Earl Payne (November 15, 1961 – August 4, 2002) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played one season with the Atlanta Braves in 1984. Mike Payne was also a baseball coach for Dunnellon High School in Dunnellon, FL. He worked at the school through the week as an Automotive Technology Instructor. Payne died on August 4, 2002 after a year-long battle with Eastern equine encephalitis, which he contracted from being bitten by a mosquito in the summer of 2001.