We still don’t know which unfortunate collector paid $518,000 for Tom Brady’s final touchdown ball at a recent auction, but they probably should have been paying closer attention to the news: The ball sold just hours before Brady announced he would return to the NFL next season.
Sports memorabilia can be a risky game, but the decision to spend $500,000 on Brady’s ball was especially so. When Brady announced his unretirement, our own Chad Finn (quite correctly) titled his column “The only surprise in Tom Brady’s announcement was that he’s staying with the Bucs.