Well 2 out of 4 isn’t bad as it’s apparent that Albert is a big collector of his own cards. He kept his Score 1989 and Action Packed 1991 that I sent him, but I still got these two nice autographs back on his Fleer 1990 Update and his Skybox 1992.
He also refuses to sign his Gameday 1992- claiming that it isn’t him. -And I mean with good reason, as he was cut by the Colts before he even played that season and later on joined the Steelers. Now I can confirm that Gameday, like other card makers was engaged in the quiet, slick practice of using old player photos for current cards because they just looked good, so it’s entirely possible that they did get a good shot of him from a few years prior so that they could include him in the set with the Colts uniform on.
Western Colorado’s very own Sam Seale was a dangerous speed burner who ran track and played RB in college leading the team in both rushing and receiving.
The Raiders and Al Davis who always had a love affair with speed, selected Seale in the 8th round of the 1984 NFL draft.
The Raiders kicked the tires on him at WR and return man, before converted him to DB.
Intercepted first pass for a 38 yard TD against the Patriots in 1985.
Officially transitioned to RCB the following season and had a career high 4 interceptions.
In ’87 returned a fumble return for a TD.
Signed as a Free Agent by the San Diego Chargers in 1988, and matched career high with 4 interceptions that year.
Returned to the Raiders ’92 as a Plan B free agent seeing action in 5 contests.
Played one final year across town with the Rams, seeing action in one contest, retiring after the ’93 season.
In 1995, joined the Green Bay Packers front office where he’s earned quite a reputation as a scout.
Skybox 1992, #260
ACCOLADES:
Western Colorado HoF 2002
Fritz Pollard Award 2017
NOTES:
Getting Sam was somewhat of a coup. An exceeding rare signer, I took a shot at getting him on these two set needs through the Packers.
The Skybox 1992 set was something completely different at the time and I really enjoyed it. The 1993 Premium set was even more… different. In fact at the time initially I was not a fan of it, however the choice simplicity has really grown on me over the years, and in 2022, the set really has resonated with me. If anything could be more minimal than Skybox 1992, this was it. -Now there’s a certain line to me where minimal just becomes nonsensical, and that to me is Pro Set Platinum 1991. (It’s just a photo with the logo on the front.)
1993 was the crash and burn year for me with trading cards, so I really didn’t get as much of a chance with the 93 Premium set as I’d have liked. I curtailed my spending with girls and Nintendo on my mind, and with there being so many options out there, trading cards quickly became a fleeting fancy at Hollywood Video or something to be snobbish about for the next… 15 or so years.
The All-Madden Team subset was really a filler for me at the time. When I got out of school my mom would stop at 7-11 and I’d pick up a pack to keep the habit going when there wasn’t any other cards to buy. Hoge’s card again is an excellent looking canvas. The AMAD logo is a bit overpowering, but otherwise, it gets by. (There seems to be a heavy amount of artifacts on the card itself, but that was probably from the scanner glass.)
Merril had really good luck with some amazing cards during his run in the NFL. Outside of my personal hiccup, Hoge is a voracious TTM signer and I was not disappointed to see that he decided to sign all 5 cards that I sent him. I could say that all of these were set needs, but that still doesn’t really explain away the fact that I had him sign 5 cards for me. I rarely go for such large numbers anymore, and I figured instead of waiting another 7 years or so, I’d just knock him out now.
Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.
