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James Joseph Brady
Detroit Tigers
Pitcher
Born: March 2, 1936, Jersey City, NJ
Signed: Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent, June 9, 1955
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1956
Jim Brady was signed as a bonus baby by the Detroit Tigers while attending college at Notre Dame. Under the bonus baby rules at the time, the Tigers were required to keep Brady on their big league roster for two years. He missed all of 1955 due to injury and appeared in only 6 games in relief in 1956. Brady then played for four seasons in the Tigers' minor league system, missing the 1959 season, before retiring in 1961. Following his playing career, Brady obtained his doctorate and went on to a distinguished career in college academics, serving on the economics faculty at Notre Dame, holding the department chair of economics at Old Dominion University and finally serving as the president of Jacksonville University between 1989 and 1996.
Building the Set
Summer of 1983 or 1984 in Millville, NJ - Card #10
One of the Original 44, I recently re-told the story of how my Dad and I started collecting this set with the Ed Mathews (#107) post. Given how many times I handled those 44 cards throughout the 1980s, it's amazing this card is still in the great shape it's in.
The Card / Tigers Team Set
I'm assuming young collectors would have been confused upon finding Brady's card in a pack of 1956 Topps cards. He hadn't yet appeared in a game prior to the card's issuance and unless you were a die-hard Tigers fan, you had probably never heard of the young pitcher. The cartoon panels on the back do a good job of filling in the blanks, given the line where statistics would normally be of, "NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZED BASEBALL." Brady's contract with the Tigers was for $37,500, and as noted above he had a much more successful career in collegiate academics than he did in baseball. Topps shaved a month off Brady's age, as his Baseball Reference page gives his birthday as March 2nd, and not February 2nd.
This is Brady's one and only baseball card, and Topps reprinted the card for him to sign as part of their 2005 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs insert set.
1956 Season
On the Tigers roster the entire season, Brady made only six appearances, all in relief. He made his debut on May 12th, pitching a scoreless inning against the White Sox. A scoreless inning against the Orioles followed a week later, but then his next four appearances resulted in no less than four runs being scored upon him in each outing. He finished the season with a 28.42 ERA over 6 1/3 innings pitched, having allowed 21 runs (20 earned) on 15 hits and 11 walks.
1956 Season
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1956 Topps #126Topps Flagship Set Appearances (1): 1956
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2005 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs #RO-JB
4 - Brady non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/19/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Trading Card Database
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