When you have been blessed with the good fortune to make it onto a major league sports team, why would you risk blowing that chance with something like drug possession? It’s like all that good luck goes to their head and they think they are invincible. Or perhaps they think themselves above the law?

SEATTLE — San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges following a traffic stop in his home state. Washington State Patrol spokesman Steve Schatzel said Thursday that the 2008 Cy Young Award winner and former University of Washington star was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 5 in the town of Hazel Dell, about four miles north of the Oregon border, on Oct. 30.

An officer approached Lincecum’s 2006 Mercedes and smelled marijuana as the pitcher rolled down his window. Schatzel said Lincecum immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car’s center console.

The amount measured was 3.3 grams. Schatzel said police consider that a small amount for personal use, well below the maximum of 40 grams before possession is classified differently and carries a more severe penalty.

The arrest was first reported by The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash.

“It was about the size of a thumb, the whole thumb,” Schatzel said of the volume of marijuana Lincecum handed over.

Lincecum was fined a total of $622 for driving at 74 mph in a 60 mph zone, and for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Both are misdemeanors. (Google)