While Tom Brady is best known as an NFL quarterback, he was actually drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft. Though Brady never played professional baseball, his selection by the Expos made him eligible to be featured in Bowman draft baseball cards during his amateur career in the late 1990s.
Bowman was the premier brand for baseball card issues related to the MLB Draft from the early 1990s through the mid-2000s. Each year, Bowman would produce sets highlighting the top prospects and recent draft picks from each draft class. For players like Brady who were drafted but chose to pursue other sports, these draft cards served as the only baseball card representation they would receive despite their MLB draft eligibility.
In 1995, Brady’s first year of draft eligibility after graduating from high school, he was featured in the 1995 Bowman Draft Pick baseball card set. The design of Brady’s rookie card was simple, with a blue border and white front displaying his headshot photo, basic stats, and Expos draft information. Despite his future NFL stardom, Brady’s 1995 Bowman card is still a fairly common and low-value piece for draft card collectors. His signing with Michigan to play college football rather than pursuing a pro baseball career diminished interest in his baseball card at the time.
Over the next two years, Brady continued to be included in Bowman’s annual draft sets as his college football career at Michigan progressed. His 1996 Bowman card showed little change from the original, while the 1997 issue upgraded to a photo of Brady in a Michigan football uniform rather than a headshot. By then, it was clear Brady’s future lay on the gridiron rather than the diamond. However, Bowman kept including him annually to acknowledge his draft rights still belonged to the Expos organization.
After Brady led Michigan to back-to-back bowl victories in 1998 and 1999, he declared for the 2000 NFL Draft following his senior season. Though still just a 6th round pick by the New England Patriots, Brady’s future NFL stardom was beginning to be recognized. This translated to increased demand from collectors for his final 1998 and 1999 Bowman draft baseball cards.
The 1998 issue showed Brady in full Michigan football pads and uniform, a sign of the sport he had clearly chosen to pursue. Meanwhile, his 1999 Bowman card took things a step further with a photo of Brady in his Patriots preseason jersey and helmet. This marked the first time a Bowman draft card acknowledged a player’s switch to another professional sport besides baseball.
When Brady went on to lead the Patriots to a Super Bowl XXXVI victory over the St. Louis Rams as a rookie, the demand for his final few Bowman baseball cards skyrocketed. Collectors recognized these issues as the only baseball cards capturing a player who was quickly becoming a star NFL quarterback. Prices for the 1998 and 1999 Bowman cards rose significantly above the few dollars they had initially sold for.
In subsequent years, Brady’s success kept fueling collector interest in those late-1990s Bowman draft pick cards. Each Super Bowl victory, MVP award, and championship run saw values climb higher. Today, high-grade examples of Brady’s 1995, 1998, and especially 1999 Bowman rookie baseball cards can sell for thousands of dollars. For a player who never stepped on a MLB field, Brady paradoxically holds some of the most valuable baseball cards as a result of his unprecedented NFL accomplishments.
While Bowman lost the baseball card licensing rights after the 2004 season, they played an important role in documenting Brady’s draft rights transition from baseball to football. Collectors now look to those final few Brady Bowman issues as a unique baseball card representation of an all-time sports legend. They serve as a reminder of the path not taken for the future six-time Super Bowl champion, while maintaining high values reflective of his immortal status in NFL history. No other baseball card sets captured the journey of a player switching sports at the highest level quite like Brady’s Bowman draft years.
In summary, Tom Brady’s Bowman draft baseball cards from the mid-1990s through late 1990s chronicle the transition of a MLB draft pick who chose football glory instead. As Brady developed into the greatest quarterback ever and a global icon, the demand for these sole baseball representations of his amateur days skyrocketed. Today, they are some of the most historically significant and valuable issues from the Bowman draft sets due to capturing the unparalleled rise of an athlete who redefined success in multiple sports.
