1989 Score Troy Aikman #270 RC

Score's first football set

Score began as Optigraphics, Inc. and took the Score name in 1988, when it released its first baseball set. Its 1989 football set was its first entry into the sport, and collectors now count it among the best football issues of the modern era.

The 330 regular cards carry blue, red or green borders. Fronts show a color photo, team helmet logo, the player's name and position; backs add a second photo, statistics and a short biography. Rookies got their own treatment: a portrait shot with a '1989 Rookie' banner running across the border. In January 1990 Score added a 110-card supplemental factory set with purple borders, numbered 331S to 440S.

The set came in wax packs, factory sets and vending boxes and was reportedly produced in smaller quantities than its Topps and Pro Set rivals. One card shop owner remembered that everybody who came in wanted Score and it was hard to get. Score also beat its competitors to the rookies: Aikman and Barry Sanders were in the regular Score set but were not in the initial Pro Set or Topps products. Aikman's other recognized 1989 rookies are Pro Set #490 and Topps Traded #70T.

The checklist is loaded: rookie cards of Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Aikman, Cris Carter, Michael Irvin, Bruce Matthews, Rod Woodson, Tim Brown and Thurman Thomas, alongside Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steve Young and Dan Marino. One guide counts 11 Hall of Fame rookie cards in the set.

From Henryetta to No. 1

Troy Kenneth Aikman was born on November 21, 1966, in West Covina, California, and moved with his family to Henryetta, Oklahoma, at 12. He played football and baseball at Henryetta High, and the New York Mets offered him a contract out of high school. He chose football and the University of Oklahoma under Barry Switzer.

In 1984 he became the first freshman to start at quarterback for Oklahoma since World War II. On October 19, 1985, Miami's Jerome Brown sacked him and broke his ankle; Oklahoma went back to the wishbone offense with a freshman quarterback and won the national title. Aikman transferred to UCLA, where as a senior in 1988 he threw for 2,771 yards and 24 touchdowns, won the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top quarterback and finished third in the Heisman voting.

Dallas took him first overall in the 1989 draft. That February, new owner Jerry Jones had fired Tom Landry and hired Jimmy Johnson, who then used a supplemental draft pick on his former Miami quarterback Steve Walsh. Aikman won the job anyway. His rookie year was brutal: a 28-0 loss to New Orleans in his debut, an NFL rookie-record 379 passing yards against the Phoenix Cardinals, and a 0-11 record as a starter, with 9 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Three rings in four years

Dallas drafted Emmitt Smith in 1990, and with Smith and Michael Irvin, Aikman formed the offensive nucleus that won three Super Bowls in four seasons. In 1992 he set career highs with 302 completions, 3,445 yards and 23 touchdown passes as the Cowboys went 13-3. In the playoffs he threw 89 passes without an interception, breaking Joe Montana's record of 83, and he was named MVP of Super Bowl XXVII after completing 22 of 30 passes for 273 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The Cowboys won again in Super Bowl XXVIII and, under Switzer, in Super Bowl XXX. Aikman made six straight Pro Bowls from 1991 to 1996 and led the NFL in completion percentage in 1993 at 69.1 percent. Ninety of his 94 career wins came in the 1990s, the most by any quarterback in a decade until Peyton Manning passed him in the 2000s.

He suffered ten concussions in his career, the last on December 24, 2000. Dallas released him the next offseason, and he announced his retirement on April 9, 2001, as the Cowboys' career passing leader with 32,942 yards. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 5, 2006, and spent two decades as a lead television analyst before moving to Monday Night Football in 2022.

Why PSA 10s are scarce

The Score set is relatively easy to put together in mint condition, but the colored borders chip, and centering is the main obstacle to a 10. PSA's history of the set singles out the Aikman: poor centering often hampers #270, and one longtime set builder said he always pulled Sanders and Aikman from factory sets but sent in only the Sanders, because of the Aikman's centering. When that piece was written, 6,750 Aikmans had been submitted, producing 324 PSA 10s.

Submissions have grown since. When checked in October 2026, PSA's report showed 1,934 PSA 10s and 8,609 PSA 9s out of nearly 21,000 graded. The gap between those grades shows in prices: a PSA 9 sold for $50 at auction in August 2026, while PSA 10s sold at auction for $590 to $722 between May and August 2026. Counterfeits of the Sanders and Aikman rookies exist, so a graded copy from a recognized grader is the safer route; on raw cards, look for blurriness and color differences.

In a July 2025 review of the set, a PSA 10 Aikman was described as going for around $500 and a PSA 9 for about $35.

The numbers

1989 rookie season

11 G, 11 GS, 0-11 as starter, 155 of 293 (52.9%), 1,749 yds, 9 TD, 18 INT, 55.7 rating; PFWA All-Rookie Team

1992 season

16 GS, 13-3, 302 of 473 (63.8%), 3,445 yds, 23 TD, 14 INT, 89.5 rating; Pro Bowl

1992 playoffs

3-0, 61 of 89, 795 yds, 8 TD, 0 INT, 126.4 rating; Super Bowl XXVII MVP

Career (12 seasons, all with Dallas)

165 G, 94-71 as starter, 2,898 of 4,715 (61.5%), 32,942 yds, 165 TD, 141 INT, 81.6 rating

Honors

3 Super Bowl titles (XXVII, XXVIII, XXX), 6 Pro Bowls, Hall of Fame 2006

Timeline

1. Nov 21, 1966

   Troy Aikman is born in West Covina, California.

2. 1984

   Becomes Oklahoma's first freshman starting quarterback since World War II.

3. Oct 19, 1985

   Breaks his ankle against Miami; later transfers to UCLA.

4. 1988

   Wins the Davey O'Brien Award at UCLA. Optigraphics renames itself Score.

5. Feb 25, 1989

   Jerry Jones fires Tom Landry and hires Jimmy Johnson.

6. 1989

   Dallas drafts Aikman first overall; Score issues its 330-card set with Aikman as #270.

7. Jan 1990

   Score releases its 110-card supplemental factory set.

8. 1992

   Sets career highs as Dallas goes 13-3; the season ends with a 52-17 win over Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII, and Aikman is named MVP.

9. Dec 24, 2000

   Suffers the last of his ten concussions.

10. Apr 9, 2001

    Announces his retirement.

11. Aug 5, 2006

    Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

12. May 25, 2026

    A PSA 10 sells at online auction for $722.

13. Aug 17, 2026

    A PSA 10 sells at online auction for $645.

The world in 1989

• Jan 20, 1989

  George H. W. Bush is sworn in as the 41st president.

• Mar 24, 1989

  The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound and spills 240,000 barrels of oil.

• Aug 24, 1989

  Pete Rose accepts a lifetime ban from baseball.

• Oct 17, 1989

  The Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area.

• Nov 9, 1989

  The Berlin Wall comes down.

• Dec 17, 1989

  The Simpsons premieres on Fox.

• Dec 20, 1989

  The United States invades Panama in Operation Just Cause.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1989 Score Troy Aikman #270 RC is number 97 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (99 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The New York Mets offered Aikman a baseball contract out of high school.
• He won the 1983 Oklahoma high school state championship in typing.
• His 379 passing yards against the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989 set an NFL rookie record, in a season he never won a start.
• Score's Aikman beat the first Pro Set and Topps products to market; neither had him at first.
• When PSA profiled the set, only 324 of 6,750 submitted Aikmans had earned a 10, largely because of centering.
• He threw 89 straight playoff passes without an interception in the 1992 postseason, breaking Joe Montana's record.