Starling Marte is Topps’ first 2012 Finest rookie

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps announced its first Finest rookie redemption of the year on Friday, and it’s a Pittsburgh Pirate who has made quite an impression since his first big-league at-bat.

It’s Starling Marte.

Collectors who found redemption No. 1 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops on Wednesday, will receive a signed card of Marte, who is hitting .281 with four home runs since his debut. He homered on the first pitch of his first at-bat in MLB on July 26.

Marte already appears on 141 different cards valued at more than $1,300. (Need a Marte checklist or OPG? Click here.)

The company will reveal the remaining four rookies during the next month.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.