In April 2000 the New England Patriots took Tom Brady out of Michigan in the sixth round, 199th overall. Six other quarterbacks had gone before him. He played in one game that season, on Thanksgiving in Detroit, and completed one pass in three tries, for six yards.
Topps made two Brady rookie cards that year, both numbered 236: the Bowman Chrome, which is the Brady card most collectors mean, and this one, from the regular Bowman set, printed on ordinary cardboard instead of chromium.
Topps made two Brady rookie cards in 2000. This is the one without the chrome.
On the front he is in the Patriots' white jersey, number 12, the ball cocked behind his ear, inside a gold frame, with the Bowman rookie logo in the upper corner and TOM BRADY in gold letters along the bottom.
The 2000 Bowman set has 240 cards, and #236 carries the rookie flag. The base card is not numbered. A Gold parallel numbered to 99 sits above it, along with a Rookie of the Year promotional version issued in small numbers.
Bowman's whole idea was the rookie: the card of a player before anyone knew what he would be. In 2000 that description fit almost no one in the set better than the sixth-round quarterback at #236.
