DALLAS, TX.- Each year, as the NFL Draft reaches its later rounds, broadcasters implore their viewers to remain tuned in until the final player is selected.
“Remember, Tom Brady was chosen in the sixth round …”
At this point, even the most casual of football fans knows the story of what is widely regarded as the greatest draft pick in the history of any sport.
Brady was a player many college teams would have been glad to add to their roster, and would have represented a real improvement over some of the passers who lined up under center for many of those other programs. But his time in Ann Arbor was hardly the stuff of legend. He posted a record of 20-5 as a starter for the Wolverines, throwing for 4,773 career yards and 30 touchdown passes. But NFL scouts were not convinced he was bound for greatness. In addition to sliding to the 199th overall choice in the draft, he was deemed not as promising a prospect as six other signal-callers: Chad Pennington had a solid career, but NFL teams spent picks on Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spergon Wynn before the Pats finally called Brady’s name.
If only we had known back then what we know now.
Anyone who has ever watched an NFL game knows how this story ended. When Drew Bledsoe was injured, Brady stepped into the starting lineup and embarked on a ride that would end with a record seven Super Bowl championships and his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brady’s first season, the campaign that set him on the path to football immortality, is represented in a 2000 Playoff Contender Tom Brady (Championship Ticket-Autograph) Rookie #144 PSA NM-MT 8, PSA/DNA Auto 10 - #’d 083/100 - MBA Silver that will find a new home when it is sold in Heritage’s July 10–11 Summer Sports Card Catalog Auction.
“Nobody, including NFL scouts, can claim to have known Tom Brady would become the most accomplished quarterback in football history, or he would have been the first pick in the draft,” says Chris Ivy, Heritage’s Director of Sports Auctions. “This is an incredibly rare card, one of just 100 examples printed and signed by Brady that marks the start of his legendary career, and among the finest examples in existence, with only one graded higher. For the most serious Patriots and football collectors, this card represents an extraordinary opportunity to acquire one of the most significant football cards in history.”
The auction also features multiple offerings from the 1952 Topps set, one of the most consequential of the last century. Each carries a PSA grade of at least 8.
Among them is a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 PSA NM-MT 8 that is widely regarded as the most popular post-WWII card in the hobby. The demand for the card comes not just from the fact that the Yankee slugger is one of the best and most popular players in baseball history, but also from the fact that many copies were among the cards dumped into the Atlantic Ocean when storage space became scarce. Of the nearly 2,100 submitted to PSA, only 14 have earned grades higher than that on the magnificent example offered in this auction.
From the same release comes a 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson #312 PSA NM-MT+ 8.5 that celebrates the electrifying star who had the talent and the internal toughness to break the game’s color barrier, forever changing the landscape of American sports and forever solidifying his status as one of the most important athletes in the history of any sport. While known best for the societal change that always will be associated with him, he also was an extraordinary player, winning the 1947 Rookie of the Year award, the 1949 National League Most Valuable Player award, six pennants and a World Championship.
A third offering from the set is a 1952 Topps Willie Mays #261 PSA NM-MT 8 that celebrates the player many have called the most talented overall player in the history of the game — when Mays was just 19, Jim Burris of the American Association Service Bureau wrote, “Blessed with tremendous natural ability, Willie can do almost everything just a little better than the next fellow.” This must-have treasure also is among the finest known examples: Of the more than 3,300 submitted to PSA, just 11 graded higher.
No top sports auction is complete without Michael Jordan, who forever changed the sport and the culture around it. A 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie #57 PSA Gem Mint 10 celebrates the player who merged NBA domination with a marketing machine. No standard-issue card after the one offered in this auction has matched, or ever will match the attention and prices afforded to this historic card.
Collectors will have their chances to swing for the most collected athlete of all time when a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #144 SGC NM-MT 8 steps to the auction block. The example offered in this auction is among the finest in existence and is one of four Ruth entries in this iconic “Big Three” trading card opus, the beloved “full body” pose that is actually the same image (just cropped to a “bust” image) for card numbers 53 and 149. What is most notable about this card, however, is its magnificent condition: Only four have received higher grades.
For those who consider Ruth the greatest player in baseball history, anything from his legendary career is a must-have treasure. A 1948 “The Babe Bows Out” Full Ticket from Ruth’s Final Yankee Stadium Appearance, PSA Mint 9, from his final appearance in the venue that came to be known as “the House that Ruth Built,” is a “population one,” the finest surviving example, according to the census of the hobby’s leading ticket service. A crowd of 49,641 was on hand to watch Ruth — gripped by throat cancer and in uniform one last time, 13 years after his final game as a player — bid farewell on a day when the team retired his jersey No. 3.
Card sets have enjoyed a massive surge in popularity among collectors, who will find themselves drawn to a stellar 1963 Topps Baseball Complete Set (576) that is ranked No. 4 Current Finest on the PSA Set Registry with a GPA of 8.656. Brimming with star power from the era, the set includes 264 cards graded Mint 9, including Hank Aaron and Juan Marichal, 40 cards graded 8.5 and 272 with NM-MT 8 grades — a list that includes the likes of a split card featuring Aaron and Stan Musial, Mantle, Brooks Robinson, Al Kaline, Carl Yastrzemski, Roger Maris, Sandy Koufax, Frank Robinson and many more.
The Dodgers legend universally regarded as one of the greatest hurlers in the history of the game will step into the spotlight when a 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax Rookie #123 PSA Mint 9 crosses the block. The pitcher known as “The Left Arm of God” helped his team win four World Series rings and gathered three Cy Young awards and a pair of World Series MVP awards before stepping away from the game at just 30 years old because of elbow arthritis. Of more than 12,000 PSA submissions, the card offered in this auction is one of just 25 to reach a grade of 9, with just three higher.
The 1909-11 T206 Sweet Caporal 350/30 Eddie Plank PSA VG-EX 4 in the auction is one of fewer than 100 known copies in existence. The explanation of the scarcity is a subject of some debate — some have blamed a broken plate at the printer during the print run, while others have pointed toward a possible aversion to marketing by a tobacco company. Regardless of the reason, it is a cornerstone of the rare T206 set “Big 3.”
Arguably the most dominant rookie season of any athlete in any sport is celebrated in one of the finest copies of a 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain Rookie #8 PSA Mint 9. This extraordinary card — of more than 2,000 submitted to PSA, just three earned higher grades — shows one of the greatest players of all time three seasons into his Hall of Fame career, but the “rookie” designation holds as the first basketball issue to appear in his career. Thanks to an unmatched combination of talent, size and athletic ability, Chamberlain rewrote the record books in his image, racking up 72 NBA standards that still stand, including most consecutive seasons leading the league in scoring (8), most points in a single season (4,029) and highest point average in a career (30.1).
