Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The football from the final touchdown pass of Tom Brady's NFL career is going up for auction Sunday.
An anonymous fan caught the ball in the stands after the score and now has a chance to land a huge payday by selling the historic pigskin at auction this weekend.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans caught the touchdown pass from Brady with 3:20 remaining in the Bucs' NFC divisional round playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams.
After Evans ran in for the score, he tossed the ball into the crowd -- not knowing at the time that it would be the final touchdown pass Brady would throw before his retirement. Evans also gave away the ball that Brady threw to complete his 600th career touchdown pass earlier in the season.
Related
The Buccaneers' staff eventually retrieved that ball from Brady's 600th touchdown, but no one from the staff bargained for the football this time around.
"We stayed for the whole game and I just kind of held it like a baby and we watched them come back and lose," the seller told ESPN on Thursday. "We stood around for a while while the players walked off the field, then I tucked it in my jacket and we just walked out like normal. Nobody came up to us or anything."
Leland Sports Memorabilia and Card Auctions is hosting the auction from Sunday through March 12, and the ball is expected to fetch a significant amount of money. In June, Lelands sold the football from Brady's first NFL touchdown pass for $428,841.
The seller, who grew up in Michigan and moved to central Florida three years ago, wasn't aware of the potential value of the football until after Brady announced his retirement earlier this month. Now, he knows it's possibly life-changing money.
"Retirement was the first thing we thought of," the seller said. "Since then, we thought maybe we don't retire, but it's a nice nest egg for when we do. Whatever happens, I would love to have as many people see the football and for it to go in the Hall of Fame on display. It should go somewhere everybody can enjoy it. It's a piece of history."
Brady, widely considered the greatest quarterback of all time, was a seven-time Super Bowl champion, three-time NFL Most Valuable Player and 15-time Pro Bowl selection over 22 seasons in the league.
