The 2000 Playoff Contenders Rookie Ticket is Tom Brady's only autographed rookie card in a base set, and it has its own page here. This is its one parallel: the Championship Ticket, the same signed design, numbered to 100.
Like the Rookie Ticket, it is signed on the card itself rather than on a sticker, in black marker, with the serial number in silver foil.
The design is a ticket. Brady stands on the left in the Patriots' white jersey, dropping back, and on the right a pink-and-blue stub reads Championship Rookie Ticket, with his position, number and team printed along it. His signature runs across his legs.
He began his rookie season fourth on the Patriots' depth chart. On September 23, 2001, the Jets linebacker Mo Lewis hit Drew Bledsoe at Foxboro Stadium, and Brady soon took his place. He started fourteen games that season and won eleven, and on February 3, 2002, in New Orleans, the Patriots beat the Rams, 20–17, on Adam Vinatieri's field goal as time expired. Brady was the game's Most Valuable Player.
He began his rookie season fourth on the depth chart. A season later he was a Super Bowl MVP.
The foil edges and corners chip easily, and counterfeits of Brady's Contenders cards exist, which is why this one is bought graded. Heritage has sold a single known error copy, issued with neither the autograph nor the serial number.
