So What Do I Do With This Now?: '08 Bowman Chrome Jesus Montero Blue Refractor RC

2008 Bowman Chrome Jesus Montero RC Blue Refractor #'d /99

As an avid sports memorabilia collector and Yankees fan, I decided a few years back to start collecting a Yankees prospect. I wasn't sure who that prospect would be, so I did a bit of research. I talked to other collectors, I read all the MLB prospect ratings and decided on Jesus Montero. Yeah, I know… big surprise there. In truth, I wanted to collect Austin Jackson, but the Yanks traded him just before I could pick up any of his cards. That was a lucky break for me I guess, since we all know it's no fun collecting a guy for your favorite team who ends up getting traded the next year.

So you can imagine my dismay when I heard about Montero being traded a couple months back. I do think my pinstripes made the right baseball decision, but the front office brass obviously weren't keeping my trading card collection in mind when they made the trade.

So basically, I have a card that looks great. I love the blue refractors, but I'm not sure I'm going to hold on to the RC. The whole idea of buying this card for me was to follow Montero as he came up through the minors and contributed to the big club. I know Montero is still one of the hottest young bats in baseball and he could become a big star, but you may see this one in my Trade Bait Album sometime soon.

Happy Collecting and… "Enjoy The Smell of that Spring Training Grass". Actually, scratch that. Have you ever seen a baseball field after professional baseball players are through with it? Those folds are disgusting. Guys are spitting who know what every five seconds. Grounds keepers are throwing manure and pesticides everywhere. With all the half eaten sunflower seeds on the ground, you would think they were getting ready to produce sunflower oil. It's a mess out there. How about this…, "Enjoy Every Crack of the Bat".

NY Yankee Prospecting

Ok, so it's a little bit of a stretch to call this post "Yankee Prospecting". It seems like every MLB fan and Yankees collector knows who Jesus Montero is. Sure, he's no Steven Strasburg or Jayson Heyward, but Montero is one of the most highly tauted prospects in the minors today. I've seen Montero as high as 5th on some of the top 100 MLB prospect charts, and as low as 11th. He was signed as a catcher, but most scouts see Montero as a DH or first baseman. It should be interesting to see what the Yankees do with Montero as they are pretty well set at first base with Mark Teixeira, and Fransico Cervelli backing up starting catcher Jorge Posada. I hope Montero remains in the Yankees organization long enough to don the pinstripes, but his name comes up on every potential trade the Yankees are involved in.

The card is a 2008 Topps Bowman Chrome RC Blue Refractor #'d 87/99. I really like the look of that light blue around the border of the card. The Bowman cards are some of the best RC's in the hobby today. I'd love to bust a box of Bowman Chrome wax open from any year as I'm sure many collectors would. I think they feature a pretty simple and card clean design that just seems to work. I have a few cards of top Yankee prospects, but this Montero is certainly my favorite.