Ernie Banks Is Worth More Than Cocaine

This story is a few days old, but I didn't hear anything about it until today, so it's new to me. A suburban Chicago man named William Hermes was recently arrested after he sold 1.5 grams of cocaine to an undercover police officer. As is normally the case when police arrest somebody for selling drugs, any money found on the person is assumed to have been made by selling drugs, and the police confiscate it. Which is exactly what they did when they found over $1,400 in Hermes' pocket.

The only way to keep your money if you've been arrested is if you prove to the police that you got it another way, which is what Hermes did. Though it's not exactly a story police are used to hearing in these cases.

"He told the officers he was a baseball card collector and that he had just sold an Ernie Banks rookie card," Day said. "It certainly was the most interesting story I have heard under these circumstances, but we had to check it out."

And it did check out, Day said. Police contacted the card buyer who confirmed the transaction. Police followed that up with a visit to the purchaser, who showed them the card and the receipt provided by Hermes.

"The card deal was legitimate, so we gave him the money back," Day said. "The best thing about it was I got to see the card."

Ahh yes, Ernie Banks and cocaine. The two just go together don't they? After all, wasn't it Banks who once said "It's a beautiful day for a bump! Let's do two!"