Zalusky: Brady could have called his signals from behind home plate

The last active professional athlete drafted by the Montreal Expos has retired, read one Twitter post.

The tweet was accompanied by a manufactured photo of Tom Brady in an Expos uniform and catcher's gear.

Of course, Brady never played for the late, somewhat lamented Canadian baseball franchise, now the Washington Nationals.

Instead, he opted to become as legendary in football as another alumnus of Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif., Barry Bonds, did in baseball.

Still, in 1995, Brady's obvious gridiron leanings didn't stop the Expos from drafting the right-handed throwing, left-handed hitting catcher.

A year after a baseball lockout deprived the Expos of arguably their best chance to reach the World Series, the team picked Brady in the June amateur draft.

He was the 507th player chosen, an 18th-rounder.

The Expos' No. 1 pick, 28th overall, was Michael Barrett, a player best known to Chicago fans for punching White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski and engaging in a dugout scuffle with Cubs teammate Carlos Zambrano.

Other notable first-round picks were Darin Erstad, Jose Cruz, Jr., Kerry Wood, Todd Helton and Roy Halladay.

Players drafted lower than Brady who made it to the big leagues included David Ross, Aaron Miles, Toby Hall and Matt Thornton.

The road to the major leagues from Junipero Serra High School, named after the priest who founded the first Catholic mission in California in the 1700s on what is now San Diego, had already been trudged not only by Bonds, but also by Jim Fregosi, Tim Cullen, Danny Frisella and Gregg Jefferies.

One scout who thought Brady had a shot was Gary Hughes, a Serra alum himself, who told The Boston Globe in 2002, "He was a definite prospect. A big catcher, and sometimes you shy away from big catchers, but he was projected as a power hitter with a very good arm who handled pitchers well."

In 2015, Hughes, who signed another player who chose football over baseball, John Elway, for the Yankees, elaborated on that theme for The Sacramento Bee, saying he was "very draftable. And he was tall - a Bob Melvin-body type guy. But Brady was athletic. And he had a nice arm, obviously."

Former Serra pitcher Jon Chapman testified to Brady's ability to call a game. He told Sports Illustrated in 2017, "He had a book in his mind on these guys. If I tried to shake him off, he'd throw down the same darn sign. It was like, OK, we'll go with it. Tommy knows what he's doing."

With the Serra Padres in 1995, Brady was an all-star, named to the All-West Catholic Athletic League first team.

Still, it had been a tough year for the converted first baseman.

His coach, Pete Jensen, told the San Francisco Examiner, "You've got to give Tommy a lot of credit, because he really struggled in the first half of the season. He couldn't buy a hit. He was below .200 for awhile. But he's really come back."

Brady showed what he was capable of in a key game in 1995 against eventual West Catholic Athletic League champ Bellarmine Prep, a team led by Pat Burrell.

Brady's two homers, including a three-run shot, both with two out, accounted for all four Padre runs in a 4-2 win.

But when baseball called, Brady would spurn the tools of ignorance and opt for calling signals in another sport.

Jensen told The Boston Globe in 2002, "Tom and his father were extremely honest with the (baseball) scouts. They were pursuing football and they said so, which is why he went late.

"In fact, the Expos offered him first- or second-round money, but he was going to Michigan for football."

On June, 12 1995, when the Expos were on the road in San Francisco, a blurb appeared in the Montreal Gazette, with the heading, "Making their pitch." It read, "The Expos had 18th-round draft pick Tom Brady take BP yesterday. Brady, a left-handed-hitting C, is from nearby Serra High School, the same school that produced Barry Bonds and Gregg Jefferies. Jefferies's father coaches there. There's some work to be done getting Brady signed, however. He's signed a letter of intent for a football scholarship at Michigan as a QB."

Ultimately, all hopes the Expos had of Brady calling pitches were deflated. He would call his plays from behind the line of scrimmage.