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...

My First Card Draft Haul

A few weeks back I participated in my first ever card draft over at The Diamond King.  I had a great time picking out my top cards and waiting in anticipation to see how each round played out.  In the end, counting a couple of bonus rounds I ended up with 25 cards.  Here are my 15 favorites:

This Stadium Club 3x3 Luminous Garciaparra insert is one of the strangest die-cuts I've seen.  I wasn't really shooting for book value or overall value of my draft, was really just taking the approach of trying to land a few Red Sox cards, as well as some unique miscellaneous cards for my collection.

Along those lines, here is a Red Sox card that I knew I wanted and was happy to land somewhere in the middle rounds.  It's a Topps Combos insert from the 2001 Topps flagship set.

Since I had won the above insert I decided to grab this one as well, from the same Combos insert set and also featuring the Splendid Splinter.

This 2002 Topps Tribute Bo Jackson card is actually really, really shiny.  It's super thick too.  A great shot of a really fascinating athlete.

Couldn't pass on this '73 Kellogg's Mickey Lolich.  This may end up as trade bait someday, but I'm hanging onto it for now.

There were a few Garciaparra cards in the draft, and this was the other that I really wanted to land.  I've only recently started scanning and cataloging my Nomar cards, and I knew I needed this one.

This Donruss Originals "What If 1980" insert doesn't really fit any specific aspect of my collection, but I really like the look of the card, which is obviously a riff on what a 1980 Donruss set may have looked like.

I accumulate Ozzie Smith cards when I can, and of the few that were in this draft this 1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders insert is the one I wanted most.  This is just an awesome, totally over-the-top gaudy 1990s insert set, I'd like to complete it one day.

Yes, I know this is the single ugliest card in the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces baseball set, but I needed this parallel (green linen I believe it is called) for my Red Sox collection and was able to snag it in the later rounds of the draft.

This Heritage Stephen Strasburg featuring the Topps All-Star Rookie Cup was actually my selection in one of the bonus rounds.  I don't buy much new wax any longer, so my collection lacks a bit of modern day star-power.  I was happy to end up with this one.

Along those same lines I drafted my very first Mike Trout card in another bonus round, from this year's Topps Chrome set.

The Expos are what drew me to this '97 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion Vlad Guerrero card...

Here's one of my higher-round picks.  I'm not really sure why I never owned a copy of this Donruss Maddux rookie until now, but I'm glad I've finally got my own after all these years.

Here's the one card that in retrospect I probably had slated higher than I should have, a David Ortiz RC from '98 Stadium Club.  I took this card in the 4th round, when really I should have saved it for much later than that.  I don't mind though, as a Red Sox fan and collector it's about time I got an Ortiz RC of some sort.

Finally, another addition to my ever-growing Nolan Ryan collection, from the '81 Topps set.

Thanks to The Diamond King for a great draft!  I had so much fun with this that it inspired me to do my own draft.  There are actually 3 spots left, and registration is open until 6pm EST today if you're interested!

If We Can't Have Hockey, Let's Have Hockey Cards...and How About a Card Draft?

Like every hockey fan, I'm incredibly bummed about the current state of the sport.  It's a sad day when, on the cusp of December, I'm more interested in baseball hot stove talk than the sport of hockey.  I won't be buying any 2012-13 product while there aren't any games being played, but maybe 5 older cards plucked from the dollar bin at the local hobby shop on my last trip will cheer me up:

Even though there are some very light blue print marks across the top, I couldn't leave this Tony Esposito behind.  1975-76 Topps is probably the set I have the least number of cards from out of the entire '70s Topps run so I was happy to add Tony here, who represents just my 15th card.  This card just looks really odd, almost as if they photoshopped Tony's head onto another player's body.

I know $1 is overkill for a base card from a Parkhurst set but I have this rule for just a few players, Howe and Gretzky included, where I'll grab pretty much any card I don't have if it's a buck or less.  This set is very high on the list of sets I'd like to complete once I get through my '80s Topps run, in fact it may be tops on the list.

Golden mullet for a bill?  Yes please.

Even though it's got a couple of soft corners I was surprised to find this '71-72 Parent in the dollar bin.  I have yet to actively pursue this set but I will soon and this is certainly an acceptable copy for my set binder when the time comes.

Last but not least, another Champ's Yellow parallel.  It was not until I got home that I even realized this is the rarer "Yellow Animal Icon" parallel.  The standard yellows are 1:20 packs, and these fall at 1:80 packs.  I can't find one of anybody for less than $10 on eBay or COMC, so I have a feeling this Hall-of-Famer was quite a steal at a buck.

Well that was fun, but I think I'm still so soured by all the greed that I like this one better:

Last but not least, I'm still looking to fill 3 spots in my upcoming card draft.  I'm going to cut off sign-up for 6pm EST tomorrow, so if you're interested you can sign up here.  Some really nice cards up for drafting!