Baseball Lineage Runs Deep in Tallahassee’s Babe Ruth Team

Tallahassee’s 13-and-under Babe Ruth baseball players, shown with their trophies after winning the Southeast Regional title, will attempt to win a fourth World Series in the age group for the city. Photos by St. Clair Murraine

Immediately after winning the recent Southeast Regional championship, members of Tallahassee’s 13-and-under Babe Ruth team celebrated the victory on the mound.

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Their stories have the same beginning: They tossed baseballs in the backyard with their dads, who often took them to games.
That scenario has played out for the head coach and three of his players on the Tallahassee 13-and-under Babe Ruth baseball team. All together they have no less than three generations of involvement in the game.
With so much of a baseball pedigree, there is a strong sense of optimism that Tallahassee has a better-than-average shot to capture its fourth World Series title in the group since winning its first in 2007.
Also immerses in the lineage factor is the father-son coaching combination of the team’s 23-year-old head coach Kennie Silvestri and his father, Ken, 63. And then, there is third Silvestri, Joey, who is one of two left-hand pitchers that gives the team depth on the mound.
But overall, this is a baseball savvy bunch that’s going to New York to face seven other teams that won regional tournaments for the World Series berth. The Tallahassee team is heading to the big show with an undefeated (8-0) postseason record, which Kennie Silvestri attributes to his players’ knowledge and having grown up in the game.
“That’s helped us out a lot,” said Silvestri, who is coaching his first all-star team. “We have kids who have baseball smarts. We don’t just have kids who are baseball players.”
“They know how to play the game and where to be on the field; back up bases and things like that.”
There are no superstars on the team, although Tyler Martin seems to draw attention at the mention of his name. He is the grandson of FSU’s baseball coach Mike Martin. His father, Mike Martin, Jr., also played Babe Ruth baseball and was on the city’s first team to ever win the title in 1984.
Martin downplayed being the offspring of a famous coach, saying that he didn’t need coaxing to get into the game.
“All I know is ever since I could do anything, I just picked up that baseball,” he said. This is where it’s going to be at. I didn’t play any other sport because I know this is really it.”
And, his teammates don’t seem to be star-struck having him on the team.
“I’m just another kid out there on the field having fun,” Martin said. “It doesn’t matter what background I came from. I just go out there and play like any other kid.”
So does Cameron Kelly, whose dad, David, was a star player in college. His dad still gives him pointers, but it’s not about defending the family name when he gets on the field, Kelly said.
“I just go to do my best and see where that takes me,” Kelly said. “I focus on the game; not too much what happened in the past.”
Like most of his players, Kennie Silvestri credits his father for influencing his decision to play baseball. Having him as an assistant coach is a priceless asset, he said.
“All that I’ve learned about coaching comes from him when I played here at John Paul II and all the other places he’s coached me,” he said. “Even when I was in college, he’d come down to watch me pitch and give me tips. He knows a lot about pitching.”