Eli Manning Trolls Tom Brady Over the Two Super Bowls the Patriots Lost to the Giants

In honor of Brady Day on 12/12, Topps unveiled a first-of-its-kind Tom Brady Montreal Expos rookie baseball card as part of the brand's Bowman Draft 2023. It's a nod to what would have happened if the seven-time Super Bowl champion had decided to play baseball instead of football. And naturally, Eli Manning used a promotion for the card as an opportunity to take a shot as his old rival.

In 1995, Brady was selected in the 18th round of the MLB Draft by the Expos, which projected him as a potential All-Star and possibly "one of the greatest catchers ever." However, the 46-year-old ultimately decided to follow through with his plans to play college football with the University of Michigan. And the rest, as they say, is history.

But what if it wasn't? That's the question a new ad from Fanatics asks while promoting the launch of the card. The short clip takes a peek into an alternate universe if Brady had joined the Expos instead, complete with appearances from Vladimir Guerrero, Larry Walker, and Pedro Martinez, who would have otherwise been his teammates in Montreal.

"That guy just never let us lose," Walker told his former teammates over beers. "Except to the Giants," Martinez replied, seemingly referring to the MLB's San Fransisco Giants rather than the New York Giants (who did beat the New England Patriots twice in the Super Bowl in 2008 and 2011). "Twice," chimed in Guerrero.

The spot even makes a joke how if Brady had not joined—contributing his theoretical 649 career home runs—that the team would have been moved out of Montreal. In fact, this did occur in 2004, when the franchise was relocated to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals.

Shortly after the commercial appeared online, Manning, who faced off against Brady in both of the Giants Super Bowl wins over the Patriots, trolled the retired quarterback in his own short video. "Well, it wasn’t ALL a dream…" Manning posted online.

"Hey Tom, I hear it's Brady Day, and it seems like people are sharing their favorite moments from your career," Manning said in the clip, wearing a San Fransisco Giants uniform. "So I wanna add my thoughts. Man, what a run you had; 23 years, seven world championships, multiple MVPs ... you're a Montreal legend."

"Personally, my favorite moments were those Giants championships," the 42-year-old added, flashing two World Series rings. "You've got a special place in the hearts of all of us from San Fransisco."

Obviously, the jab is all in good fun, as the card is a big deal for Brady, who in real life never actually made it so far as to appear in a Montreal Expos bullpen.

"It’s going to be a huge chase card for the product,” said Topps Brand Manager Coby Kerr, who helped design the card, in a statement. "It’s going to be truly unique. There’s never going to be another Bowman Brady card."

“There really aren’t any images of Brady in a full Montreal Expos uniform,” Kerr said. "Like any other Bowman prospect, we retouched him to make it look nice. We wanted to make this card as unique as possible to when he was drafted. For example, we use an image of Brady from ’95. The back content talks to it, covering his scouting report up to when he was drafted and before all the football came into play. The back has a true scouting report like all the other draft picks in the product."