I have one card of Ilya Bogatyrev, from 1993 Topps.
Playing career: Ilya Bogatyrev was one of three Russians
signed by the Angels in 1992 after the fall of the USSR to promote baseball in
that country, with the idea that Russia might be a potential future pipeline
for international major league talent. In two years in the Arizona League,
Bogatyrev played in 44 games, hitting .241 with 0 HR and 9 RBI.
My memories: Only know him from his card. That card was the
first I had heard about the Angels’ Russian experiment.
Where he is now: Anyone know where Ilya Bogatyrev is now?
Google Autocomplete results: He is sixth when you type Ilya
Bog, between Ilya Bogdanovich, a software engineering manager at Yandex, and Ilya
Bogdanovskiy, a desk support tech at CompuCom. There do not appear to be any
other prominent Ilya Bogatyrevs.
Coming up next: The next profile will be Terry Bogener.
I find it interesting that this experiment never comes up when people talk about the Million Dollar Arm contest and bringing players in from India. For that matter, I find it odd that more scouting isn't done in the western European countries that actually have organized baseball.
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