Coot Veal Red Sox - Part Three - More Superstars

Here's the next installment of the recent trade package I received from Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones...

This portion of the package contained 29 new cards for my Red Sox collection.  Starting things off is a nice Bowman Hideki Okajima rookie card.  I really, really liked Okajima during his time with Boston and he is sadly under-represented in my Sox collection.  I thought for sure his MLB career was finished after he appeared just a handful of times for the Red Sox in 2011, but was pleasantly surprised to see he's back with the Oakland Athletics this season (and has given up just one earned run in 5 appearances).

I appreciate this card because Ken Ryan is actually a local guy from here in Rhode Island.  He actually runs a baseball academy about 15 minutes up the road from my house.  Also, this card features a great backdrop of an empty Fenway Park.

This insert from 2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History is numbered to 999 copies.  A little busy on the design here.

A nice O-Pee-Chee black parallel.  Still can't believe the Dodgers took this contract.  He's 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA and is currently on the DL for Los Angeles.  Thanks again LA!

Here's an insert I had never seen before, from 2007 Topps.  Sort of a dumb name for the set considering that Loretta signed as a free agent with Houston and was not traded there by Boston.

Here's a new Adrian Gonzalez card, nice!  I'll be featuring this one again and tallying towards my official count in my next "Adrian Gonzalez, We Hardly Knew Ye" post.

One of my favorite cards in the entire package believe it or not, a Trot Nixon Electric Diamond rookie from 1994 Upper Deck.  I don't know too many Red Sox fans who didn't like this guy, it was almost impossible.  As a child of the early '90s I'm a total sucker for the Electric Diamond parallels as well.  Just an awesome card all around.

Here's another Nixon rookie, this one from the Collector's Choice set.

I had never seen these before, but found thanks to Zistle that this is from the 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game Forever insert set (what a mouthful).  Dom's 1953 Topps card is currently very high on the list of graded vintage cards I'm searching for.

There were four new Frank Violas in this section...

It's a complete coincidence that I finished scanning these in time, but today is actually Wade Boggs' 55th birthday.

There were a handful of his cards in this bag.

Interesting photo on this one, looks like Wade just held off on a pitch and is about to look up to the umpire for the call.

Even though this card is from one of the most hideous sets any company ever unleashed on collectors, I still needed it for my collection so it's a win.  Here's something a little easier on the eyes:

This is actually from the 2002 Topps Traded set (the Red Sox got Floyd in a trade from Montreal).  It's a gold parallel numbered to 2002 copies.

Here's another gold parallel, from the 2009 Updates & Highlights set, numbered to 2009 copies.

Here's another Boggs, pretty comical shot of Wade as a kid.

A couple from the 1990 Fleer set.  I especially like this Boggs/Greenwell card.  Actually I have a really great Greenwell card to post in the near future.

No, this isn't a 1973 Aparicio, it's one of those Cards Your Mom Threw Out inserts.  I do have the O-Pee-Chee version of this card though!  I do have an original though, thanks to a very generous blogger.

Another 2010 insert...

This one was very cool, even though the painting is strange to say the least.  My first black bordered parallel from the 2008 Masterpieces set.  Funny because I think I sent Dustin a black parallel in his package.  Coincidence?

My first 2012 Gypsy Queen mini...

I had no clue what this one was at first, looks like it was part of a promotion and the cards were given away at hobby shops.  Not a terrible looking card, although I question why the MLB logo needs to be so dominant.

Finally, a fantastic Yaz, numbered to 399 copies.  I've said this over and over but I absolutely love the 2005 and 2008 Baseball Heroes sets.  Really happy to have this one.  Thanks for another great run of cards Dustin, I'll have the next portion of the package up early next week...