This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/12/2019
Unlike many other legendary quarterbacks entering the NFL, Tom Brady advanced from the University of Michigan with no fanfare whatsoever, selected in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft as the #199 overall pick. It's not surprising that Brady was so lightly regarded given his pedestrian career with the Wolverines, starting just two seasons and tossing a total of 30 TD passes against 17 interceptions. And Brady may have languished his entire career on the New England sidelines, much like his backups have done over the past 19 seasons, had an injury to Drew Bledsoe in the second game of the 2001 season vs. the New York Jets forced Brady into service. In a manner reminiscent of Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp, Brady took the reins and never looked back, leading the Patriots to nine Super Bowls, winning six of them and being named the Super Bowl MVP four times. Over the course of many years, collectors have ripped pack after pack of Playoff Contenders cards to score a rookie ticket autographed card of the "next big thing" to join the NFL, but looking back on all of the amazing legends and future Hall of Famers that made it onto cardboard, no issue comes remotely close to the 2000 Playoff Contenders rookie ticket autographed card of Tom Brady; it's simply the most important football card issue of the century. The featured card borders on perfect, so much so that SGC has bypassed the usual grade of 9.5 and taken this rare beauty straight to the top with a grade of 10. Now 41 years old, widely considered the greatest NFL player of all-time and showing no signs of slowing down, there's no telling how many more championships and broken NFL passing records will be left in his wake. This spectacular piece, arguably the greatest single football card in existence, will instantly become the main attraction of any advanced football card collection. Football's 21st century equivalent of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card.