2018 Super Bowl LII Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski Touchdown Pass Patriots Football Signed by Gronk--Photo Matched!...

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Hall of Fame duo sets multiple Super Bowl records together with this ball acquired directly from Gronkowski!

2018 Super Bowl LII Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski Touchdown Pass Patriots Football Signed by Gronk--Photo Matched!

UPDATE: Resolution Photomatching will supply a letter confirming a match to photography of this touchdown, making this the only known photo matched Tom Brady Super Bowl touchdown football in the hobby.

Now that the greatest player in the history of the National Football League has announced the end of his twenty-two-year professional career, a feeding frenzy has exploded among elite gridiron collectors faced with the reality that there will be no more game used gear from TB12. To be fair, that frenzy has already churned for years, as there is no athlete in the 21st century who has presided over a wider chasm between supply and demand. The lack of availability famously drove a journalist to a life a crime, but those jerseys from Super Bowls XLIX and LI were later recovered, and the rest of the GOAT's wardrobe has remained sequestered from the collecting world with very few exceptions.

The offered lot is rarer still, believed to be the first and only example of a Brady Super Bowl touchdown pass football to make its way to the auction block. While Brady's record of twenty-one Super Bowl touchdown passes nearly doubles runner-up Joe Montana's tally of eleven, it's still a tiny population that makes Brady's seven-figure Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket rookie cards (limited to 100) look downright common by comparison. And who knows how many of those twenty-one footballs are accounted for today?

This particular specimen is uniquely desirable for its connection to Brady's best buddy and favorite target Rob Gronkowski, himself a future Hall of Famer and the man from whom our consignor acquired the ball. That's two NFL All-Century team members making magic together. The ring of white tape around the ball (with a foam backing to keep the leather from being damaged) is signed and inscribed by Gronk in 9+/10 black marker with the details: "SB52, #87, TD REC, 22-19."

Check the game stats and you'll see this was a five-yard strike in the opening minutes of the second half to pull the Pats within a field goal of the Eagles. We should note that this elevation to fifteen of Brady's Super Bowl touchdown passing record likewise brought Gronk into a three-way tie with Dan Ross and Jay Novacek for most touchdowns by a tight end in a Super Bowl. He'd break that record later in the game, and raise it to five as of 2022.

We should also mention that this five-yard completion was part of Brady's still-standing passing yardage record of 505 in a Super Bowl, breaking his previous mark of 466 recorded a year earlier. It's also one of a record fourteen postseason touchdown connections between a quarterback/receiver tandem. It is a relic of monumental significance and rarity, one of the most desirable 21st century sporting artifacts ever made available to the collecting marketplace. Letter of provenance from consignor. LOA from Resolution Photomatching. LOA from Heritage Auctions. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.