Phillies Soon to be Back to Back Championships inspires a Jeltz Top 5 Ranking!!!

I'm kind of excited about tonight's game- so excited that I think it might be time to unveal the top 5 greatest Steve Jeltz cards of all-time:

#5: 1987 Topps



Jeltz + Action Pose + Wooden Borders = #5 ranking- nuff said

#4: 1991 Impel Line Drive



Oh the comedy, a 1991 card of veteran Jeltzie and yet still the card labels him a "pre-Rookie" Hilarious.

#3: 1987 Donruss Opening Day



You can't see it, but in his back pocket, he has a wallet with "Bad Mother f***er" written on it. You'll have to take my word on it.

#2: 1984 TCMA Portland Beavers



Jeltz and that Jericurl in the Minors- if they only knew then...

#1: 1986 Topps



Because it's blog-worthy, and I say so...


GO PHILLIES!!!!!

Joba for Jackie: Pudgy for a Pioneer

A new trade- woo hoo!!!

It's been a little while since i last was able to post a new transaction- and there are a couple of reasons for that: bad offers, and a baby boy!

Let me start by posting a picture of our little pride and joy:



Little Aidan was a Phillies fan back when he was in the womb, and he heard his daddy screaming for joy when the Phillies won the World Series back in October :)

Anyway, back to the trade- Jeff C. from Saratogo Springs, NY saw the blog, and made an offer on the Joba Chamberlain card that I couldn't resist:



A 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson!!!

This is a gorgeous card of one of the greatest and most important players to ever lace up spikes. I love this particular card- the 1956 set includes a great action shot of Jackie sliding home in the backgroud behind his portrait. Just a spectacular card!

As if that wasn't enough, Jeff C. also included eight 1954 & 1955 Bowman Football cards, including Hall of famer Joe Perry:



Finally, he also included Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's 2007 Topps Total rookie card:



So thank you Jeff for doing your best to "Trade me a better card" or in this case, cards :)

And I look forward to the next deal- it's amazing that we've come this far from the starting of 1986 Topps Steve Jeltz- I hope we can continue to get closer to the grand goal- T206 Honus Wagner (which in turn will serve as a nice little down payment on that house in Santa Barbara, CA).

Just a reminder, the tally of cards that are available for deal (either as a group, or individually) are:

1956 Topps Jackie Robinson
1994 Fleer Update Alex Rodriguez Rookie (graded 8.5)
2005 Bowman Refractor Justin Verlander Rookie Autograph
2007 Bowman Sterling Evan Longoria/ Carl Crawford Dual Refractor Autograph /199
2005 Bowman Heritage Jonathan Papelbon Autograph card
2005 Upper Deck Team USA Clayton Kershaw Dual Autograph card
2007 Topps Total Adrian Peterson Rookie
(8) 1954 & 1955 Bowman Football cards, including HOF Joe Perry

Keep sending in those deal offers!

Phillies 4 Me Crossover Deal- WOW- Great, New Cards Added!!!

Thanks to poster "FTN" on Back She Goes (Mr. FTN is from Silver Spring, MD), I just increased the value of cards I'm able to deal BIG TIME!

For a collection of Phillies stars and popular 80's/90's stars, I received the following 5 PREMIUM autographed cards!!!

2005 Upper Deck Team USA Clayton Kershaw Dual Autograph card

Kershaw is the Dodgers phenom who surprised everyone by landing in the majors this past year. Clayton is definitely an ace in the making material, and this Team USA card will certainly only increase in value over time.


2005 Bowman Heritage Jonathan Papelbon Autograph card



Papelbon is a superstar closer for the Red Sox, and this is an early issue autograph for the great closer.


2007 Bowman Sterling Evan Longoria/ Carl Crawford Dual Refractor Autograph /199


The Rays are hot, and everyone loves the uberprospect turned all-star Evan Longoria. This card features not only his autograph, but also an autograph of toolsy speedster Carl Crawford. If the Rays win the World Series, this numbered card will be at a premium.


2005 Bowman Refractor Justin Verlander Autograph

Verlander is the former No-hit artist, viewed by many as one of the top young arms in the American League. This rookie card is a rare, limited number issue autograph will continue to increase in value the longer this ace improves.

Finally, the biggie:

2007 Bowman Refractor Joba Chamberlain Autograph

Chamberlain is probably the hottest thing on cardboard right now, and this is the best card that is out there for him. This is his autographed, low-numbered rookie card.

So all these cards, along with the 1994 Fleer Update Alex Rodriguez Rookie Card (graded 8.5 by BGS), are available as a package, and I'd love to see what might be dealt that can top this package of all-star rookies and autographs.

Let those offers roll in! I'm happy to be creative with what I'll accept- without getting too specific on $ value, there are several hundred dollars worth of cards that are currently available.

Remember, these cards are only going in a deal where I'm getting the clear, better return in trade.

This deal is a result of a crossover of both my blogs- FTN, who was so VERY kind to make this deal, decided he had these premium cards, and all he wanted in return was some Phillies cards, in his own words "save the valuable stuff to trade for other good cards. I just want the novelty guys like Ricky Jordan, my hero". I couldn't help but include some fun Phillies hall of famers and rookie along with the novelty cards- see my post on Phillies 4 Me to see what Phillies package that I'll be sending along to Mr. FTN.

Amato wants to retract the mean things he said about AROD

So it's been a little while since I have had any action on this blog, but we are not dead- I actually might be working on a deal with a BIG-TIME celebrity individual who has already been mentioned on this blog! More on that soon...

Anyway, I promised Amato R. in Santa Barbara that I would retract the "Girlyman" comment he made about his beloved Yankee, Alex Rodriguez. He said that in the offseason, when the rumor was out there that Arod had one foot out the door at Yankee Stadium.

See, Alex Rodriguez enjoys taking showers with other people not named Derek Jeter

Regardless, I still have this really great Alex Rodriguez rookie card just sitting around in my guest bedroom, waiting to be mailed out to someone. Throw me offer, and let's get moving on the deals again. it was fun while I went through my first run of deals- I couldn't send the cards out soon enough!


In case you haven't seen in yet, please check out my other, newer blog:

http://phillies4me.blogspot.com/

The whole purpose of this one is to talk about baseball cards, the Phillies, and maybe make some even sided deals. Should be fun!

Trade #1- One Philly fan to another

Jeltz didn't last very long on the open market. The first offer happens to be the first trade of hopefully many.

Here's the deal:

Comments: This is a HUGE upgrade on the Jeltz. Abreu was possibly one of the three greatest OFers in Phillies franchise history. Richie Ashburn is our all-time CF, probably throw Chuck Klein in LF, and Bobby in RF, if I was putting the team together.

And I just got his 1995 Best minor league rookie card- Graded an impressive 9 by the fine folks of USAsportscards.com, no less. This is a very, very generous offer- one I'm happy to trade on. Thank you Jim!!! Please do enjoy your 1986 Topps Steve Jeltz- it is a special, little worthless piece of cardbord.

And thanks to you for checking out the site- their will be gradual improvements as I learn the art of the blog- please do bear with me.

And keep sending those offers!!!!

MISSION STATEMENT

Welcome.

Ok, So let's start- the goal of this blog is to trade baseball cards. And with that said, I'm asking you to "trade me a better card". I'm gonna rip you off- there is no way around that. But along with receiving the card I'm about to trade you, you will also receive the peace of mind knowing that you helped an all around good guy (me) help take a step toward an overly ambitious, and utterly unobtainable goal:

The T206 Honus Wagner:

The Holy Grail of baseball cards. That's right, I went Indiana Jones on your rump.

So that is the grand finish- almost. There is a catch- once I acquire Mr. Honus Wagner on Piedmont stock, I will be off to ebay. And this will be the hard part, beacause I love me some baseball cards. I will auction the ultimate goal of all my trades so that I might be able to acquire the one thing that means the most to me (even more than baseball cards, believe it or not!) and my soon-to-be-family: a home in my current hometown of Santa Barbara, California.

The ultimate goal:

And if any of you know anything about home prices, you might realize that the idea of an average shmoo (me again) buying a house in S.B. is about as unlikely as... well trading a 1986 Topps Steve Jeltz for a T206 Honus Wagner.

So that brings us to square one- the cornerstone- the first card that will lead me to 1700 square feet of bliss, a one car garage, and perhaps 2 and a half bathrooms.

I present to you the 1986 Topps Steve Jeltz card:

Okay, a little background on Mr. Jeltz. He is the starting point for many good reasons. I'm a diehard Philly fan, and he was my favorite player while I was growing up. He was my favorite player because he characterized everything about those mid to late-1980's Philadelphia Phillies that I came to love. They were bad. Really bad. And Steve Jeltz was the Honus Wagner of badness. A shortstop who hit a career .210 over 8 seasons (here are the career #s courtesy of baseball-reference.com: http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jeltzst01.shtml), he was the last MLB player who was born in France, and, perhaps most importantly, man did the guy sport a delicious jericurl.

- Ever see "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy? One of my all-time favorites. One of the funniest parts of this movie was a comercial that stared Eddie Murphy's romantic interest's fiance (played by the always good Eriq La Salle). This commercial epitomized Steve Jeltz's look- Soul Glo:

Please do yourself a favor and check out Soul Glo on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61DRhl9xyYA

And so the blog has begun. The rules are wide open. Any offer will be considered, the best offer will be accepted, and a trade will occur. Although cards, and baseball cards are preferred, all sports cards, autographs, game used items, etc. will be considered.

All deals will be chronicled here. I will take you step by step, from Jeltzie to Hans.

Let the offers come pouring in.

E-mail me at trademeabettercard@gmail.com