By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps revealed its fifth and final Finest rookie of the year on Friday, and it’s Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Jean Segura.

Collectors who found redemption No. 5 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops last month, will receive a signed card of the infielder, who is hitting .266 in 33 games this season.

The fourth redemption was of Rockies rookie Josh Rutledge, while the third was of Angels star Mike Trout, the second was Cubs rookie Brett Jackson and the first card announced was Pirates rookie Starling Marte.

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.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps revealed the fourth Finest rookie redemption of the year on Friday, and it’s a member of the Colorado Rockies.

It’s shortstop Josh Rutledge.

Collectors who found redemption No. 4 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops last month, will receive a signed card of the former University of Alabama star, who is hitting .327 through his first 47 big-league games.

The third redemption was of Angels star Mike Trout, while the second was Cubs rookie Brett Jackson and the first card announced was Pirates rookie Starling Marte.

The fifth and final rookie will be revealed later in the 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.

Join Beckett Football‘s Chris Olds and Dan Hitt as they bust into a pair of 2012 Finest boxes from Topps in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

When collectors rip into their newest Topps packs and find an autograph of Bryce Harper they’re not only finding one of the more in-demand Rookie Cards of the most-hyped prospect in MLB history.

They’re also finding a perfect example of how a player’s autograph changes over time.

The Washington Nationals rookie is no stranger to signing autographs, and the demands for his ink have inevitably become time-consuming as his signature has become dramatically different in just the two newest releases from Topps — 2012 Topps Chrome (the latest, above) and 2012 Finest. His signature essentially has become an abbreviated “BH” — something different than the older autograph stickers the company presently is using on some of his cards and even more different than many of his other past releases.

Because nearly all of Harper’s 160 different autographed cards have been issued with serial-numbering, it’s easy to total just how many individual cards that the 19-year-old has signed since his signature debut in the 2008-09 USA Baseball boxed set that featured a full, nearly printed signature as seen above. (Of course, he signed just 55 cards for that product.)

Only 17 of his cards lack serial-numbering (one of those, from 2012 Tier One, will have numbering when it actually arrives via a redemption), meaning it’s easy to total his number of certified autographs. It’s 9,363 total autographs since 2008 between Topps, where he is now an exclusive, and three other companies. (Need a Harper checklist or OPG? Click here.)

Harper’s earliest autographs feature the full signature seen on the USA card, while most presently available to collectors are of the “BHarper” variety. His 2010 Bowman Draft Aflac autos (above) have a smaller, less flashy signature signed while he was still a high-schooler back in August 2009.

His Aflac sigs, along with his 2009-10 USA autographs, bridge the gap between his earliest autographs and his sigs signed as a professional. His sticker autographs, like this 2011 Bowman Platinum card signed along with Jameson Taillon, are a slightly flashier than his Aflac cards (though they can sometimes be much grungier than this example as he clearly doesn’t like signing on a smaller space) version of his full sig before its latest incarnation.

The non-sticker autographs signed in the “BHarper” style are often clean — but not always. Those more-hurried cards (unlike this Bowman Platinum card) are perhaps a sign that some of the larger quantities of autographs signed (of the non-numbered cards) are found in places such as 2011 Bowman. That would make sense as those are products likely with larger print runs than hobby-only releases and Harper was a big presence in that line. Some of his stickers can be very hurried and have less aesthetically pleasing sigs as well, though the split between on-card and sticker signatures, over his cardboard career, is essentially 50-50.

With the arrival of the hobby-only Finest product earlier this month came the first “BH” autographs, though some cards from last year and some recently fulfilled redemptions this year showed hints of this style just with an additional line or two following the “H.” Aesthetically, the card is a bit more disappointing but with plenty of demand for his ink it’s probably not going to have much effect. (Autograph quality never seems to come into play with elite-level athletes — either in what they have already achieved or what they might accomplish.)

Conservatively, Harper likely appears on somewhere in the ballpark of 11,000 to 13,000 certified autograph cards with more arriving with each new product (Chrome alone included 998 serial-numbered sigs and an unnumbered card).

Meanwhile, while that may seem like plenty of signatures for Harper, it’s nowhere in the ballpark of prospects during the 1990s autograph boom. As a minor-leaguer, for example, Derek Jeter signed a total of 10,650 cards for a single product in 1994 alone (Signature Rookies). Today, Jeter appears on more than 1,050 certified autograph cards — many with ridiculously small print runs — and his overall number is one that could be higher if he had signed an autograph deal elsewhere after years with Upper Deck.

Overall, it will be interesting to see how Harper’s autograph continues to appear — and whether he continues with signing for companies after his Topps deal expires in the future. Consider that these autographs aren’t the only signatures he’s signed since that Sports Illustrated cover back in June 2009.

With that thought alone, it’s perhaps surprising that the changes in how his signature looks didn’t come even sooner.

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.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps announced its third Finest rookie redemption of the year on Thursday, and it’s the guy who is looking like he’ll take home the American League Rookie of the Year honors — if not more when the season ends.

It’s Mike Trout.

Collectors who found redemption No. 3 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops last Wednesday, will receive a signed card of Trout, who is leading the AL in average at .340 and stolen bases at 38.

The first card, announced last week, was Pirates rookie Starling Marte. The second, announced Tuesday, was Chicago Cubs rookie Brett Jackson.

The company will reveal the remaining two rookies later in the 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.

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Topps announced its second Finest rookie redemption of the year on Tuesday, and it’s one that Chicago Cubs fans might like.

It’s Brett Jackson.

Collectors who found redemption No. 2 out of the five in 2012 Finest, which arrived in hobby shops last Wednesday, will receive a signed card of Jackson, the top-ranked prospect for the Cubs. The first card, announced last week, was Pirates rookie Starling Marte.

The company will reveal the remaining three 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.

Join Beckett Baseball‘s Brian Fleischer and Chris Olds as they rip into a pair of 2012 Finest baseball card boxes from Topps in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

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.

Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds as he rips into a box of 2012 Finest and some vintage cards, too, in this Box Busters Preview video.

What will he find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

With Yu Darvish under wraps, now it’s time for the newest product.

Topps unveiled its latest forthcoming 2012 baseball card line of the year on Monday as it pulled back the curtain on 2012 Topps Finest, which will arrive on Aug. 8 with the Japanese star — and plenty more.

Each master box of the product (two six-pack mini boxes) will include one serial-numbered autographed rookie Refractor as well as an autographed jumbo rookie Relic, while there are three new insert card sets to chase — ornately diecut Faces of the Franchise, Faces of the Franchise autographs and autographed rookie redemptions.

The base set will consist of 95 cards — a mix of veterans and rookies (Darvish included) — with parallels that include Refractors, X-Fractors, printing plates, SuperFractors and a rainbow of colors (Green, Orange,  Gold Red, Atomic) as in past years. New this year will be Hot Boxes — one in four cases — where every base card is a Refractor.

There will be plenty of color available for the autographed Rookies as well as the jumbo Relics as each will have the same array of parallels as the base cards with the most-plentiful version being the X-Fractors at 299 per.

Also to be found will be dual and triple auto cards — each quite limited. Only five copies of each triple will be made, while the doubles will be limited to 10.

The Faces of the Franchise inserts will be found one per master box with the autographs on  those limited to 15 — or fewer — copies. The same will apply for the Finest Moments inserts, though they will be found two per master box and those autographs will be limited to 25 or less.

Lastly, there is a new Game-changers insert set with 15 top stars found one per master box also to be found with autograph and autographed Relic versions all of those cards will be limited to 10 or fewer copies.

At least 20 rookies will be signing for Finest with Darvish the headliner. Others will include Jesus Montero, Matt Moore, Drew Pomeranz and Brad Peacock. For the Faces of the Franchise autos, one can expect, according to the preliminary checklist, to find Eric Hosmer, Dustin Pedroia, Matt Kemp, Joe Mauer, Justin Verlander, Buster Posey, Felix Hernandez, Evan Longoria, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols to name a few.

For the Finest Moments sigs, you can look for Darvish, Robinson Cano, Clayton Kershaw, Brett Lawrie and Michael Pineda to name a few, while Game-changers will include Mike Trout, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Mike Stanton and Jose Bautista for starters.

For the duals? Watch out as there will be a Darvish-Moore auto as well as a Pujols-Trout card, while triples will include a Darvish-Moore-Montero and a Verlander-Miguel Cabrera-Fielder for starters.

Lastly, Darvish also will have an auto jumbo Relic as well Montero, Moore and Pomeranz.

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.