COLLECTING HALL OF FAME ROOKIES

If it wasn’t for the pandemic and the rising prices of trading cards — especially the modern variety — Billy Hinton might not have been able to acquire his dream card.

When Hinton was little, he never figured he would own a 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle. But when he had the opportunity to trade his Luka Doncic 2018 Prizm Pink PSA 10 for the Mantle rookie graded PSA 1 and a Michael Jordan 1986-87 Fleer PSA 3, Hinton jumped at it.

The Doncic card was valued at about $1,500 prior to the pandemic but rose to about $7,800 last August.

“It was just kind of one of those, I’ll trade the modern for those iconic cards any day of the week,” Hinton said.

Adding the Mantle was a big addition to Hinton’s personal collection. But it also got him one giant step closer to closing out an almost unreachable project. About four years ago, Hinton