So what does integrity have to do with swapping baseball cards and bubble gum?

Not much, if you side with Brian Wrzesinski, the 12-year-old Addison boy who bought a $1,200 1968 Nolan Ryan baseball card for 12 bucks.

The story that hit the front page of the Chicago Tribune, complete with a photo of the blond-haired, blue-eyed kid grinning innocently while showing off the baseball card that might not be his for very long.

Brian’s being sued by Joe Irmen, owner of Ball-Mart baseball card store, because an employee accidentally sold Brian the bargain last April.

The mistaken sale happened something like this, according to Irmen: Business was hectic at the ball card shop, so Irmen hired a clerk from his jewelry shop next door.

Brian looked at the mint-condition card priced at $1,200 and asked the clerk, “Is this worth $12?” The clerk sold it to him, and Brian made off with the deal of his life, while Joe Irmen is out $1,188.

Brian and his dad, Joseph Wrzesinski, contend the boy did nothing wrong—Brian bought the card fair and square, even at an unbelievably discounted rate, and he deserves to keep it.

On the other side, there’s Irmen, who argues Brian knew what the card was worth, while the clerk didn’t know if the card was worth “12 cents, $12 or $1,200. She just took the kid’s word for it.”

While the legal aspects will be ironed out Dec. 27 in the 18th Judicial Circuit Court of DuPage, there’s more to this than the law. What about integrity?

So often people’s attitudes and actions reflect the sentiment that they only did something wrong if they were caught doing something against the law.

“I didn’t steal the card or do anything wrong,” Brian told the Tribune. “I knew the card was worth more than $12. I saw the prices for it of $150 and up. I just offered $12 for it and the lady sold it to me. People go into card shops and try to bargain all the time.”

What a bargain!

But despite whatever is decided next month, kids—and adults for that matter—should realize it’s not right to mislead someone and claim they deserve the loss just because they fell for it.

The 12-year-old will undoubtedly get a lot of sympathy in this case because of his age and because the situation involves something as nostalgic as a baseball card.

Aw, the kid’s just clever—ahead of his time. Why’s this grumpy old store owner picking on this 12-year-old, anyway?

But what if the opposite situation were true? What if Brian, a “hapless” pre-adolescent, were overcharged $1,188 by the “crafty clerk”? If he were taken advantage of and tricked into paying the money, would that be right?

Perhaps the example is overblown by the amount of money, but the principle—if he’s intentionally overcharged $12 or $1,200—is the same.

With this whole integrity question at issue, it kinda makes you wonder if the baseball card should have been Pete Rose instead of Nolan Ryan.