CGC Cards Certifies 2000 UD Black Diamond Gold Tom Brady Rookie Card

After taking a season off and enjoying retirement, iconic NFL quarterback Tom Brady has returned to football as an announcer with FOX Sports on a 10-year deal. Although the seven-time Super Bowl winner's playing days are over, his collectibles are as popular as ever, especially rookie cards dating to his earliest days with the New England Patriots.

Recently, CGC Cards™ received a submission of a rare high-grade Gold parallel that any Brady fan would love to add to their collection. The 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond #126 Tom Brady - Gold earned a coveted CGC Gem Mint 10 and is now only the second of its type in the CGC Cards Population Report and the higher graded of the pair.

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First released in 1997, Upper Deck's Black Diamond Football series was a step up from their base sets. The premium release featured a metallic design and was an early adopter of parallels, inserts and rare chase cards for collectors to track down. Although the cards were popular with collectors, the Black Diamond Football series was only released for four years, with its 2000 release being the last printing.

2000 UD Black Diamond Football hobby boxes came with 24 packs per box that contained six cards per pack. It featured a 120-card base set, with an additional 30-card rookie set (#121-150 SP Rookies). The rookie class in the set is highlighted by Shaun Alexander, Brian Urlacher, Jamal Lewis, Chad Pennington, Plaxico Burress and, of course, Tom Brady.

Compared to the famous quarterback's other rookie cards, Brady's UD Black Diamond card stands out for several reasons. It is instantly recognizable for its modern design, with white and black background and foreground graphics that surround an image of the young QB. In addition, Brady is photographed in practice gear instead of a game uniform, wearing a quarterback's red practice jersey and grey sweatpants, which is seen on a handful of his rookie cards.

Lastly, the base rookie cards from the 2000 UD Black Diamond set are numbered to 2,400 copies each. However, there is also a Gold parallel version of all base cards and rookie cards. The base Gold parallels are numbered to 1,000 copies, but the rookie Gold parallels are numbered to only 500 copies, making this particular submission of the 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond #126 Tom Brady - Gold much rarer and even more valuable.

Brady was selected 199th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. In only his second season, the iconic QB led the Pats to their first Super Bowl title. As the primary starter for 18 seasons, Brady led New England to 17 division titles, 13 AFC Championship Games, nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl titles, all NFL records for a player and franchise.

In 2020, Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and immediately led them to the Super Bowl in his first season under center with a new team, winning the seventh Lombardi Trophy of his storied career. If he wasn't already considered the greatest of all time before, it was cemented after winning another title outside of New England. Today, Brady still holds numerous major quarterback records, including most career passing yards, completions and touchdown passes. Brady is also the NFL leader in career quarterback wins, quarterback regular season wins, quarterback playoff wins and Super Bowl MVP awards.