David Rubenstein is the Game Day Attorney.
My Grandparents taught us that their education was the only thing the Nazis could not take away from them.
My love of collecting baseball cards began at the age of seven. After seeing a commercial for the new Topps baseball cards of 1988, a young Jersey boy was hooked. My father brought me to my first baseball card store to purchase a pack. He loved having a son who could share in the delights of America’s Pastime with him. I can still remember how all the colors and designs of the cards were mesmerizing – especially those Yankee pinstripes. Admiring cards that were 50 years older than me made me feel like I was in a museum or a temple worshipping the greatest of the great.
Dad also bought me my first Beckett price guide containing the current values of cards dating back to 1948. As a CPA, he taught me the importance of tracking card values. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was my first lesson in what was to be my future baseball card business.
I received cards as gifts for birthdays and holidays. Buying cards with my $1/week allowance instead of candy like all my friends took a lot of self-discipline. But my sole focus was directed at building my collection. And it grew. I would spend hours gazing at the cards and memorizing every single statistic. I knew who won the World Series each year as far back as 1908 when the Chicago Cubs beat the Detroit Tigers. The Cubbies didn’t win another until 2016.
Most days of my youth were spent trading cards with friends. School library time was used to pore over biographies of the greatest players: Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, and Mickey Mantle. Like a sponge, I could recite even the tiniest minutiae of baseball trivia.
Eventually, my dad and I began attending baseball card shows. My version of Disneyland. He would give me a crisp $20 bill and remind me to use the Beckett price guide to ensure a good purchase. The prized possession was a 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle card worth $100 that he had purchased for me. He has reminded me often how wide my eyes expanded when presented with that card!
One hot summer day while home from college, I dug into my closet to retrieve my childhood collection and reminisce. Mentioning this to my best friend, Ben, who had grown up in my neighborhood and shared a passion for collecting cards, we realized that we didn’t have to wait until we were older to collect the rarest and most valuable cards. We could start then and there. Pooling our collections together, we sold everything we owned for cash – except for my special 1968 Topps Mickey Mantle card. A new business was born. Our first purchase was a rare 1909 T206 Tris Speaker RC PSA 7 tobacco card for $700. Our little business began to grow and even though we were tempted to go all in, Ben and I made sure it remained a part-time affair. For good reason.
I was raised by grandparents who were Holocaust survivors who had lived in Poland in 1939. They watched the Nazis invade and wipe out their entire families. Following World War II, they met at a displaced persons camp and decided to try their luck in America. With no family support, money, and speaking very little English, my grandparents legally immigrated to the United States in 1950.
Over the last decade, Ben & I have sold over 10,000 baseball cards. We have achieved some of our wildest, grand-slam dreams. Personally, I still wake up every day with that feeling of “Game Day”; excited about facing new challenges in the courtroom and on the field.
“Love is the most important thing in the world,
but baseball is pretty good too.”
YOGI BERRA
A Business and Entertainment Lawyer who has been voted a “Super Lawyer Rising Star” for seven years in a row, an award given to less than 5% of all attorneys. David counsels film clients on all aspects of their productions to help them achieve their goals. Most recently, David was a Producer’s Consultant on the acclaimed film Human Capital, starring Marisa Tomei and Liev Schreiber, which premiered on the red carpet at the Toronto Film Festival.
In assuming the trusted advisor role, he works hand in hand with business owners and Executive-level clients to develop efficient business processes to protect and prevent business problems and challenges. When business disputes arise, David uses all resources at his disposal to protect and defend the interests of his clients in the courtroom.
Bar Admissions
Illinois
New Jersey
State of New York
Florida
U.S. District Court of NJ
US Southern District of New York
US Eastern District of New York
