Emmitt Smith retired 20 years ago as one of the top backs in the history of the NFL. Smith and fellow rusher Barry Sanders dominated the league in the 1990s. Sanders is sometimes regarded as the superior running back. However, Smith got the last laugh thanks to three Super Bowl championships with the Dallas Cowboys.
Smith became an instant star in the league. He first won the 1990 Offensive Rookie of the Year award. After that, he proceeded to capture the NFL rushing title in four of the next five seasons. It all led to a Hall of Fame career.
Here are five things to know about the rookie cards of one of the greatest running backs in league history.
Emmitt Smith’s 1990 Score Supplemental is King
There is little doubt about which of Smith’s rookie cards is his most desired. The 1990 Score Supplemental card of the Hall of Famer is one of the decade’s top football rookie cards.
Ironically, the 1990 Score football set is one of the least intriguing football issues of the decade. And truthfully, there’s little to get excited about in the Supplemental series issued later in the year. Smith’s card is a saving grace of sorts. It has kept a set with little else as one of the most desirable football sets of the 1990s.
Much of that is in part to what must have been a surprisingly low print run. Other Smith rookies can be found for around $5-$10. However, his Score Supplemental cards start around $30-$40 in raw form. PSA 10 examples are where the real money is. Those can sell for $1,000 or more.
(Mostly) Update and Postseason Rookies
Smith has a total of six main rookie cards. Those were produced by Topps, Score, Pro Set, Fleer, and Action Packed. Action Packed is responsible for two of his rookie cards. In addition to the Action Packed Update set, Smith also appears in a postseason set commemorating the All-Madden Team.
Interestingly, only Pro Set decided to include Smith in their base ‘regular season’ set via packs. All of Smith’s other cards are found in traded or update sets issued later in the year (or in the case of the All Madden Team set, at the end of the year).
While that might be common for lower draft picks in sets released today, Smith was a mid-first rounder. Pro Set was really the only one of the six sets that placed a real priority on rookies. And even in that instance, he was only included in Pro Set’s second series after the start of the season.
Pre-NFL Cards Exist
While many collectors will be familiar with Smith’s first NFL cards, few likely know of his Florida Gators cards. Smith was featured in two sets before making the leap to the NFL while he was still in college.
In 1988, Smith was included in a special Burger King set for the Gators. His appearance in that limited set was not a surprise, even though he was only a sophomore at the time. In 1987 as a freshman, Smith’s 1,341 rushing yards led the SEC. The Burger King card is believed to be his first true trading card.
Smith was included on another collegiate card in 1989 — this time an issued sponsored by the USDA for its Smokey the Bear campaign. While not his first card as a member of the Gators, this is another highly desirable pre-rookie for football card collectors.
Both are rare and start around $100 each with high-grade examples commanding significantly more.
PSA 10 Rarity Notes
One interesting tidbit is surrounding PSA 10 examples of his rookie cards. While the Score Supplemental cards of Smith are easily the most valuable, they are not necessarily the most difficult to find in a PSA 10 grade.
Approximately 7% of Smith Score Supplemental cards have achieved a PSA 10 grade. Those are significantly rarer than his 1990 Topps Traded (22%),1990 Fleer Update (34%), and Action Packed All Madden Team (12%) cards. However, they are only slightly harder to achieve a PSA 10 in than his Pro Set cards, which are graded as such in about 10% of all submissions. Technically, his toughest rookie card to achieve a PSA 10 is actually his Action Packed Update card, which only grades a PSA 10 about 5.5% of the time.
Now, don’t confuse those numbers. Smith’s Score Supplemental card is a much rarer card than his Pro Set cards. The numbers are a bit closer there for two reasons. First, the Pro Set cards were pack-issued as opposed to the Score Supplemental, which were only issued in complete sets. Second, because the Score Supplemental cards are more valuable, collectors are more willing to submit them for grading, even realizing the card may not achieve a gem mint status. That will always hurt the PSA 10 rate.
And while the overall print run on the Action Packed Update cards, of which Smith’s card is a part of, seems fairly low, the Score Supplemental is still easily the more desirable issue.
However, the PSA 10 hit rate for the Action Packed cards is notable. And it is clear that collectors are paying attention. On rare occasions when PSA 10 copies of the Action Packed Update card are offered, they sell for much more than either his Fleer or Topps versions, which are closer to the $100-$150 range.
Near Misses
A final note on Smith’s rookies is that he is left without a true first-year card in many popular 1990s football brands, simply because they were not yet producing football cards.
Perhaps the most notable is Upper Deck. While Upper Deck began producing baseball issues in 1989, they did not start creating football cards until 1991. Bowman followed a similar path. The company reintroduced their baseball cards in 1989 as well, but did not get into the football card market until 1991. Fleer Ultra, the company’s relatively modest ‘premium’ effort, didn’t roll out until1991. Same with Stadium Club, which was Topps’ answer for its own premium brand. It wasn’t until 1991 Pacific also got into the football card market. While you will find Smith in all of those 1991 sets, he does not have a true first-year card with any of those brands. Thus, while his appearance is the first for all of those brands, because they are not rookie cards, they all have minimal value.
A final note when it comes to cards that Smith did not appear on in 1990 is regarding inserts and parallels. While Smith did find his way into the relatively new market of inserts and parallels in 1991 after being named as the 1990 Offensive Rookie of the Year, his master checklist with PSA does not show him appearing on any of those types of cards as a rookie in 1990.
