It sounds like one of those tales from World War II, where German soldiers disguised as G.I.s in the confusing Battle of the Bulge were asked one simple question -- which any real American would be able to answer at once --  "Who won the  1944  World  Series?"

Only this time the question was put to 20-year-old Miguel Antonio Delarocha of El Paso on Interstate 25 on the north end of Raton, and it had to do with basketball, according to the Raton Range.

New Mexico Motor Transportation Division Officer John Valdez stopped Delarocha going northbound on I-25 last Monday after Delarocha's Mustang was clocked by radar going 10 mph over the speed limit, the Range reported.

Valdez later said in his report that there was a "strong chemical odor" in the car and that Delarocha was acting nervous, the paper said.

When Valdez asked Delarocha where he was headed, Delarocha told him he was headed for Denver to see a Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.

Who are the Nuggets playing? Valdez asked.

The Warriors, Delarocha said.

Valdez then called another officer to ask about the Nuggets' schedule and was told the Nuggets "had already played the (Golden State) Warriors on Sunday," according to the report.

It turned out, however, that answer was wrong, too, the Range reported.

The Nuggets actually had played the Warriors on the previous Thursday in California, but no matter -- Valdez got permission to search the car, and he and two State Police narcotics officers turned up 94 packages of marijuana hidden inside the car's rear quarter panels and rear bumper, the paper said.

According to Valdez's statement, Delarocha admitted before the search that he had been paid $2,000 to pick up the car in El Paso and drive it to Denver and that he knew it contained marijuana, the Range reported.

Delarocha was arrested and charged with distribution of marijuana, according to the Range.

Oh, yeah. Who did win the 1944 World Series?

If you answered "St. Louis" that was probably good enough for a wary American GIs looking for a German infiltrator. That was the year the St. Louis Cardinals played the old St. Louis Browns in what was called the "streetcar series," which the Cards won 4 games to 2.

The Browns, of course, went on to become the Baltimore Orioles. 

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