Padres draftee Johnny Manziel to have autographed card in Bowman Draft

There was an uproar of surprise when the San Diego Padres selected Johnny Manziel in the 22nd Round of this past June’s Draft. Those that thought the idea of drafting an NFL-bound quarterback – who hadn’t even played baseball in college – was ludicrous were plenty, but they are about to get another reason to vent that outrage.

Manziel, who has already stepped into the starting role for the Cleveland Browns, will have an autographed baseball card released in the upcoming 2014 Bowman Draft set that is scheduled to hit stores in December – according to Chris Olds at Beckett.

For many collectors the chance to find a card as unique as this might seem like a great challenge. Few stars in other sports are also drafted to play baseball. Even fewer were on such a national stage as Manziel was over the past twelve months, running through the end of his collegiate career and then the NFL Draft.

For other collectors, this is just another rare occurrence of a card mixed into sets with the hope of building up extra interest on the market – and thus driving up the resale price.

As Corey Brock and Paul Casella at MLB.com wrote back in June, Manziel’s baseball career came to an end following his junior year of high school. He had been a middle infielder for his high school team but instead opted to focus solely on football, allowing him to graduate early and attend Texas A&M University. He’d win the Heisman Trophy en route to being selected in the 1st Round of the NFL Draft (#22 overall).

Like the vast majority of NFL quarterbacks and former Heisman winners that were taken in the MLB Draft before him, Manziel didn’t end up signing with the Padres. There are no expectations that he’ll eventually step away from the football field to pursue a career on the diamond. He’ll remain focused on a budding NFL career. Regardless, Manziel will always be able to top many of his counterparts in the league, as none of them can say that they’re on a baseball card when Bowman’s latest product reaches stores in December.