Chargers great Junior Seau dead at age 43
By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
Junior Seau, a bruising linebacker for the San Diego Chargers throughout the 1990s, was found dead in his Oceanside, Calif., home on Wednesday, according to a report by TMZ.com. He was 43.
A fan favorite of many in Southern California after he was a first-round pick out of USC in the 1990 NFL Draft, Seau was a 12-time Pro Bowl selection and a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1990s. He was a member of the Chargers Hall of Fame, and, in 2009, he was named to the franchise’s 50th Anniversary Team. Seau played in two Super Bowls — once with the Chargers in 1994 and the New England Patriots in 2007 before he retired in 2009.
In all, Seau appears on 2,308 different cards in the Beckett.com database, cards valued at a total of more than $19,000 before the news. (Need a Seau checklist or OPG? Click here.) He appears on six Rookie Cards from 1990 and was a tough signer for card companies as he appears on only 86 different certified autographs.
Seau’s most valuable Rookie Card is in 1990 Fleer Update, an RC that typically sells for $5 or less, while most of his other RCs (Topps, Pro Set, Score, etc.) made in an era of overproduction typically sell for $1.25 or less.
Seau’s first autographed card appeared in the landmark 1991 Pro Line Portraits Autographs set, while his most-recently released signatures can be found in a few 2011 sets — most notably 2011 National Treasures, which included five different signed cards.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
he was one of the best linebackers to play back in the 90’s. read somewhere that he is the 8th player to die off the 1994 super bowl team. a tragic loss for football fans.
Sad Day for football fans everywhere RIP Junior Seau
Damn it. I was looking forward to his acceptance speech at the HOF.
Seemed like a real class act and never heard otherwise.
Waaaayyyy Tooo Soon – I loved watching this Guy crush opponents, honestly the only reason I tuned in to watch the Chargers …. RIP my friend
Very sad to hear this. I was a big fan of him. Seau was a great player and, from what I’ve heard/read over the years, a great person. He will be missed and remembered.
Well, it did not take long.
Look at the prices before and after on EBay.
Cards with buy it nows were snatched up. Later auctions were also snatched up
but at 3 to 4 times the prices. Even the pro line autos have sold in $50 range
and the laserview has broken $100. Pretty dang good for a card # to 3000.
I expect things will calm down a bit in a week or two unless something unusual
comes to light.