Michael Rubin Proclaims Collectors Are "The Best Sports Fans" at Topps Rip Night
In this story:
Hundreds of collectors turned up for the fifth Topps Rip Night at Dave & Adam’s New York City shop on Saturday night as Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart came out to celebrate the hobby with fans. The event was one of more than 800 taking place in 20 countries throughout the day, attended by more than 160 professional athletes and upwards of 100,000 collectors.
RELATED: Top 10 Baseball Cards of All-Time According to Topps
At Dave & Adam's, the night consisted of plenty of giveaways, free packs, and live breaks. Rubin and Dart joined the jam-packed gathering as collectors screamed and cheered trying to get their attention. A line that wrapped around two streets, two avenues and even entered the NYC Subway system, slowly filed into the store where every collector received a free pack of cards as well as raffle tickets for giveaways taking place all night. From 2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball Hobby Boxes to 2025 Topps Stadium Club Baseball Hobby Boxes the giveaways were flowing all night. As Dart and Rubin’s entrance neared, the emcee started throwing packs out to the crowd, getting everyone even more excited.
The D&A store, located just blocks away from Madison Square Garden in New York City, was flooded not only with Giants fans and collectors but with floor to ceiling collectibles from signed football helmets to game-used hockey pucks and of course countless boxes of cards, and singles ranging from $10 to six-figures.
RELATED: Alysa Liu’s Olympic Gold Medal Celebrated With Limited Topps Now Card
Michael Rubin's Arrival
Once Rubin arrived he greeted the audience telling them "sports fans are the best in the world but collectors, without question are the best sports fans in the world." He then answered questions from young fans including the biggest risk of his career. “Risks don’t scare me at all. When we got into collectibles I had the idea before thanksgiving in 2020. We got the rights and started pushing. I always push and I win more than I lose," he said.
He was also asked who his hero was, to which he answered with “my mom and dad... They raised me the right way and to never quit.”
“You have to be unrelenting and out-hustle everyone else. Every day this week, **** went wrong. I don’t care. It would be boring if everything went well. You need to embrace failure. And outwork your competition.”
Rubin then FaceTimed former NFL quarterback and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady, who participated in Rip Night at Collectors Club in Miami. As Brady answered, the crowd chanted “Eli Manning, Eli Manning." As a result, the call was short-lived with the large Giants contingent.
Jaxson Dart Raises the Energy
Once Dart arrived the massive crowd of fans only grew louder as collectors of all ages inched their way to the front of the store to get photos and autographs from the Giants quarterback who just completed his rookie year in New York with 2,272 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Dart quizzed the crowd on the first team he played against in college at Ole Miss, giving away cards to fans who answered correctly. Earlier in the night, Rubin played trivia with the crowd as well, with one collector receiving a James Harden autograph card /10 and another winning a Cooper Flagg Rookie Card with a $180 price tag.
In addition to card giveaways and live breaks, the night was a great reminder that the hobby is thriving and for young collectors, it's source of not only fun but education, too. "I work every day like I've got something to prove. My mentality is to hustle and out-grind everybody. I don't ever want to think I made it, because I'll become complacent," Rubin told a young collector who asked about the moment he realized he made it. "And now I'm going to sign some cards for you."
Rebecca is an experienced content and marketing strategist that excels at innovation and executing on high engagement ideas. She has worked for Caesars Sportsbook, Vox Media and The Postgame. Rebecca lives in New York City and has a Bachelors of Science in journalism from Syracuse University.