Vitally Romanov

Vitali (or Vitally) Romanov

• Throws Left

• Born April 22, 1970

Biographical Information

Vitally Romanov was the second-youngest member of the USSR national team in the 1991 Intercontinental Cup; only Askar Atadzhany was younger. He was 1 for 8 with a walk, splitting catching with Vadim Kulakov and Sergey Korolev. He fielded .867 with 3 passed balls and 9 steals in 9 tries. He also pitched one inning, allowing two homers (to Eui-sik Kong and Sung-bo Shim). Interestingly, he was listed as a lefty thrower, unusual for a catcher in any country, even one as new to baseball as the USSR was. His hit was off Miguel Herrera.

After the USSR broke up, he was on the Ukrainian national team in their first European Championship, the 1995 European Championship. In their opener, he replaced Alexandre Skatkov at catcher and singled off Rob Cordemans in the 6th for Ukraine's first hit ever in a European Championship; Cordemans would go on to set numerous records in the Netherlands over his long career. He finished the event at .353/.421/.412 with two runs and a RBI. He led the Ukraine in average (.020 ahead of Igor Kovalenko) and was second with six hits (two behind Kovalenko). His .893 fielding was second-lowest among qualifying catchers, beating out teammate Skatkov.