Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 4", Weight 225 lb.
- School University of Michigan
- High School Junipero Serra High School (San Mateo)
- Born August 3, 1977 in San Mateo, CA USA
Biographical Information[edit]
An 18th-round draft pick of the Montreal Expos from Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, CA in the 1995 amateur draft, Tom Brady went on to start at quarterback for the University of Michigan, after which he was drafted by the New England Patriots in the 6th round (199th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft. At Michigan, he battled for the starting job with Drew Henson, who would go on to play major league baseball. A catcher in high school, Brady was taken the pick after future major leaguer Steve Randolph. John Hughes was the scout who recommended him to the Expos. Kevin Malone, who was the Expos' General Manager at the time, thought that Brady had a chance to be "one of the best catchers ever" - except that his first love was always football. The Expos made him an offer well above his draft slot - Hughes later said it was equivalent to what a late 2nd-round pick would have received. He said Brady "had all the intangibles" to be a pro: "He could throw, left-handed power. There is no reason to think this guy couldn't have been a big-league catcher."
A two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, Brady is generally regarded as the greatest quarterback in pro football history and one of the greatest athletes of the 21st Century.
When the Patriots' starting QB, Drew Bledsoe, went down early in the 2001 NFL season, Brady stepped in and led New England to a Super Bowl championship, the first in team history. In 2003 and 2004, he quarterbacked the Patriots to two more Super Bowl wins, and in 2007 he set the NFL's all-time record for touchdown passes in a season as the Patriots became the first team to ever have an undefeated regular season of sixteen games. He repeated as a Super Bowl winner in 2015, where his opponent at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks was another former baseball player, Russell Wilson, and in the process became only the third QB in history to win the big game four times, after Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana. He then led the Pats to a dramatic, overtime comeback victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl in 2017, and brought his team back to the big game in 2018, against the Philadelphia Eagles. While he was on the losing side in his record-setting 8th appearance in the Super Bowl, it was in spite of another tremendous performance on his part in which he passed for over 500 yards! He made it six victories in the Big Game when he led the Patriots to another win in the Super Bowl in 2019, this one over the Los Angeles Rams. In 2021, he added one more chapter to his legend, after joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, leading them to a victory over the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. That was his 7th Super Bowl win at 43, and he had more wins by himself than any franchise had ever achieved in NFL history: the record was 6, by New England, all under his leadership... He briefly announced his retirement after another superlative season in 2021-22, then changed his mind a little over a month later. After one more, much more difficult season, he announced his retirement again in January of 2023, claiming that this time, it was for good.
When he left the Patriots following the 2019 season to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent, he needed suitable digs in the Tampa, FL area. He ended up renting a mansion belonging to Derek Jeter.
Further Reading[edit]
- Joe Frisaro: "Veteran scout says Tom Brady had MLB tools: Patriots QB was drafted by the Expos in 1995 but opted to play college football", mlb.com, January 30, 2015. [1]
- Thomas Harrigan: "What if Tom Brady chose baseball? Topps ad dreams up his HOF career with Expos", mlb.com, December 12, 2023. [2]
- Cydney Henderson (USA Today): "Tom Brady, drafted by Montreal Expos, 'could've been one of the greatest catchers ever'", Yahoo! News, February 1, 2023. [3]
- Joe Posnanski: "Legendary debate: Brady the Babe of football?", mlb.com, February 1, 2018. [4]
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