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