Tim Hyers is considered one of the pioneers of modern baseball card collecting and dealing. Born in 1962 in Buffalo, New York, Hyers developed a passion for baseball cards from a young age that would eventually lead him to make a career out of the hobby. While still in elementary school in the late 1960s/early 1970s, Hyers began trading and selling cards with his friends and other local collectors. Even at that young age, he had an eye for value and deal-making that would serve him well as the hobby grew in popularity.

Throughout his high school and college years at the University of Buffalo in the early 1980s, Hyers continued amassing his personal collection and gaining experience buying and selling cards. It was during this time that the junk wax era was in full swing, saturating the market with mass-produced carts from brands like Donruss, Fleer and Topps. While the overproduction diminished values for most modern cards from this period, it allowed ambitious young collectors like Hyers to acquire huge inventories for pennies on the dollar. He took advantage of the glut, strategically purchasing cards he felt had long term appreciation potential.

In 1987, shortly after graduating from college, Hyers took the critical step of opening his first retail store – Quality Sports Cards – in downtown Buffalo. It was one of the earliest specialized sports card and memorabilia shops to open, at a time when the hobby was still in its infancy and mainly consisted of mom & pop tobacco/convenience stores selling packs as an afterthought. Over the next few years, Hyers gained valuable retail experience and established important industry contacts while witnessing the hobby’s rising popularity first hand. It was also during this period that commerce in high-end vintage cards started to take off, as wealthy collectors competed to add iconic pieces to their collections.

In 1990, Hyers had the foresight and business acumen to capitalize on the emerging high-end vintage market by opening a subsidiary auction company – Quality Sports Collectibles – to facilitate consignment sales of six and seven figure cards. At the time, the sports memorabilia and auction industry was still developing, with few dedicated companies catering specifically to the burgeoning collectibles sector. By pioneering streamlined consignment auction services for rare vintage cards through QSC, Hyers helped shape the marketplace and increase liquidity for these prized assets. Some of the earliest and most notable cards to cross the QSC auction block included the rare 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, 1915 Cracker Jack (tie) Eddie Plank, and a pristine 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.

In the early/mid-1990s, fueled by the wealth effect of the stock market boom and rising prices in other collectibles like art and antiquities, mainstream interest and investor money poured into the sports memorabilia and collectibles market. This golden era for the hobby afforded Hyers the opportunity to further expand his business interests. In 1994, he left the day-to-day retail operations of Quality Sports Cards to focus full time on Quality Sports Collectibles and growing its auction footprint. Under Hyers’ leadership, QSC rapidly became one of the premier auction houses specializing in rare vintage cards, as well as game-used memorabilia. Some of the record prices achieved for cards during the decade included a PSA 8 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle ($110,000), PSA 8 T206 Honus Wagner ($641,500), and a 1909-11 T206 Nap Lajoie ($106,500).

As the memorabilia industry matured and consolidated in subsequent years, Hyers also played a role in important mergers and acquisitions. In 1997, Steiner Sports acquired Quality Sports Collectibles to gain a foothold in the high-end auction market. Then in 1999, Steiner Sports merged with its arch rival, Openda, to form The Steiner Collectibles Group – a powerhouse player in the business. Hyers was instrumental in the initial deal with Steiner and helped with the integration of Quality Sports Collectibles into the new company. The sports memorabilia market crash of the late 1990s took its toll. By 2001, Steiner Collectibles Group filed for bankruptcy protection. Hyers eventually exited the company he helped build but retained ownership of his personal collection accumulated over decades in the industry.

Undaunted, Hyers saw another opportunity in this market downturn to reshape the sports memorabilia auction landscape by launching a new firm. In 2003, he founded Classic Collectible Auctions (CCA) from the ground up with industry veterans to focus again on rare vintage memorabilia consignments. Over the next 15+ years under Hyers’ leadership as Chairman, CCA established itself as a global leader in vintage card and memorabilia auctions, achieving record prices across all sports. Some of the most notable milestones included a PSA Gem Mint 9 T206 Honus Wagner ($2.8 million), Babe Ruth’s 1920 Yankees jersey ($4.4 million), first Mickey Mantle Topps card PSA 9 ($5.2 million), and a PSA 8 1952 Topps Mantle ($5.2 million).

Now in his 60s and having witnessed and shaped the hobby through massive booms and busts over four decades, Tim Hyers remains at the forefront of the vintage sports collectibles industry. Through Quality Sports Collectibles and Classic Collectible Auctions, he leaves an indelible mark as one of the pioneering dealers who developed the marketplace infrastructure and standards that govern the high-end segment. Having built multiple successful companies, directed record-shattering auctions, and curated one of the finest personal collections in existence, Hyers solidified his role as an icon and trustee of the rare vintage memorabilia asset class. Whether judging a PSA registry set or sourcing a nine-figure card consignment, Hyers’ expertise remains in high demand as the hobby marches onward into its next era.