Flavio Alfaro

Flavio Roman Alfaro (October 26, 1961 – January 27, 2021) was an American baseball shortstop and second baseman who played one season of Minor League Baseball. He was noted for being a member of the 1984 United States Olympic baseball team that won silver.

Early life Alfaro was born in Los Angeles on October 26, 1961. He attended Poly High School in San Fernando, California, where he played on the school's baseball team. He went on to study at the College of the Canyons from 1981 to 1982. In his two seasons there, he finished with batting averages of .361 and .369, respectively, He later transferred to San Diego State University, where he played for the San Diego State Aztecs baseball team under Jim Dietz in 1983 and 1984. There, he batted .387 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles, and 52 runs batted in (RBI). and came around to score the game-winning run in the seventh inning of a 2–1 win. He proceeded to drive in one run on an infield hit in the second game, a 16–1 blowout win against Italy. He scored on a home run by McDowell in the semifinals against South Korea. The team ultimately advanced to the final, where they lost 6–3 to Japan.

Minor leagues Alfaro was subsequently drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 4th round of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. However, he retired after a back injury and a contract dispute with Brewers management over which level in the minor leagues he would play. He was the first player from the 1984 Olympic team to retire from professional baseball. He would later concede that his inability to adjust to wooden bats led to his early retirement in professional baseball. In the 1980s the NCAAs exclusively used aluminum bats for financial reasons, and it wasn't uncommon for some of the brightest college baseball stars to struggle with wood bats they would be required to use once they started playing professional baseball.

Later life After retiring from baseball, he moved to Sacramento, California, and became a chestnut farmer.

Alfaro died on January 27, 2021. He was 59, and suffered from pancreatic cancer in the time leading up to his death.