Cards
Topps releases fun ad campaign to promote Dan Marino’s first Bowman Draft baseball card
Dan Marino was widely known as one of the greatest passing quarterbacks of all time, leading the NFL in passing yards five times and setting numerous records.
The 1984 NFL MVP and seven-time All-Pro could also chunk a baseball. In fact, the Miami Dolphins legend was also drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1979 MLB Draft.
Marino’s first-ever baseball card will be featured in the 2025 Bowman Draft set released Jan. 14.
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To celebrate Marino’s first baseball card, Topps produced a special ad campaign posing the question: What if Marino was the premier two-sport athlete of the 1980s? The “what-if” campaign imagines Marino playing such sports as baseball, basketball, hockey and tennis, while also becoming a popular marketing pitchman for such products as men’s wear, all-weather tires and shampoo. It even supposes Marino as an actor.
The ad concludes with Marino waking up from a daydream beside his pool and finding his Bowman rookie card next to him.
Topps has produced previous Bowman commercials featuring similar ads starring fellow NFL legends Tom Brady and John Elway.
The 90-second ad opens in a boardroom where an advertising executive presents his “Mari-Knows” campaign with Marino as a multi-sport star. Topps uses AI to place Marino in multiple sports, and then shows him in the iconic shirtless Bo Jackson pose with football pads and a baseball bat.
The 2025 Bowman Draft set features three special Marino cards with different autograph inscriptions— “Mari-Knows Baseball,” “Laces Out,” and “There is no defense against my perfect swing,” a reference to his famous quote, “There is no defense against a perfect pass.”
