David Silvestri
Central 1985
David Silvestri graduated from Central High in 1985. He attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and currently resides in Chesterfield, MO.
Dave was drafted by the Houston Astros in the second round of baseball's 1988 amateur draft. He played for eight seasons in the major leagues with the Yankees, Expos, Rangers, Devil Rays and Angels. After his major league playing career Dave coached in baseball's minor leagues for three seasons.
His greatest baseball highlight, though, is winning a gold medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. As the starting shortstop on the Olympic team, Dave played alongside such future major league stars as Jim Abbot, Andy Benes, Tino Martinez and Robin Ventura. The team played a 48-game pre-Olympic schedule and then traveled to Seoul to win the gold medal that had eluded the team in 1984.
In its first game, the U.S. team beat host Korea 5-3. The team then went on to rout Australia by a 12-2 margin and clinched the top spot in its division. The Americans finished preliminary round play by dropping an 8-7 verdict to Canada, but still headed into a semifinal match-up with Puerto Rico. The USA easily downed Puerto Rico 7-2 to set up a rematch of the 1984 final gold-medal game against Japan.
Dave played a role in the Americans' gold medal victory over Japan. He had an RBI single and Tino Martinez hit two home runs as the USA beat Japan 5-3 to win the gold medal. The victory was a complete game for pitcher Jim Abbot. The USA did not win another gold medal in baseball until 2000.