How Michael Rubin Ended Up Holding All the Cards (2)

Michael Eisner left Walt Disney Co. one of the most feared executives ever to enter a boardroom. He’d fought off a $54 billion hostile takeover, battled with the founder’s nephew and sparked a war that split Hollywood in two after a bitter breakup with his studio chief. By the late aughts, Eisner was itching to lead another iconic American brand and eyed Topps, the Depression-era tobacco-turned-trading card company that eventually became synonymous with baseball. A half-century later, collectors still yearned for the oldest and rarest Topps items, such as a 1952 Mickey Mantle card that sold at ...