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I think what Mr. Lopez did was what someone should do. Jeter is a human being, just like us. On his mantelpiece, he probably has pieces of nostalgia...
- Balls from his first little league game, bat from his first homerun
- A bag of sand from a beach he used to go to as a kid
- etc etc
Those items have NO value but have much value to him, even if he makes 17M/year.
Consider: You have a video camera. You've captured many special moments on it. All of the data is on that camera. Someone else picks up that camera. Its worth $500 to them. Its invaluable to you. What if that person ransomed your camera back to you for 250K or even 3K? What kind of person would that be?
That 3000th hit baseball is really just a $10 baseball. Christian Lopez caught it. Christian probably thought to himself "This belongs with Jeter, next to his childhood memory of the beach and his first little league baseball" or "maybe this will wind up in Cooperstown for millions of fans to admire." Christian Lopez giving that ball to Jeter might have been his reward.
As for me? It is hard to say. As someone that was in my living room watching, I would have said "Dude! Sell it!" But, I wasn't caught up in the moment. I'm also not the one that caught it. I think I'd have felt like a scumbag if I was told Jeter asked for it back and I was going to ransom it.
The same goes for if I happened to catch an important ball from David Ortiz or some player I dislike. They are just people in the end and probably have their own spot in their house for nostalgic stuff like the rest of us might.
I would have put it in a lexan case and set it up with a web cam so everyone could see it. Then, I would have dumped a bunch of those baseball eating worms on it so everyone could watch the ball be devoured. bwahahahahaha!
Jeter's a multi-millionaire who could easily afford to give the fan $20,000 or so for the ball. I think what the Yankees offered was on the right track, but if I were the fan I woulda held-out for free seats for life, not just the remainder of this season.
I think what Mr. Lopez did was what someone should do. Jeter is a human being, just like us.
That goes both ways; Lopez is a human being, too. And who wouldn't like to have a major piece of baseball history on the mantel? The difference is, if Lopez had kept the ball, he would have been crucified in the media, whereas they'll leave him alone for having given it to Jeter.
That goes both ways; Lopez is a human being, too. And who wouldn't like to have a major piece of baseball history on the mantel? The difference is, if Lopez had kept the ball, he would have been crucified in the media, whereas they'll leave him alone for having given it to Jeter.
Lopez is being crucified for not selling the ball. Now it appears he will owe taxes on the the free seats he got from the Yanks, although there appears that the Yanks or Jeter may step up to pay the tax.
One day, Lopez will wake up and smack his forehead , when the guy who catches Alex Rodriguez's 3000th hit in a couple years gets a cool quarter million or more for it.
I think Jeter is the first player whose 3,000th hit was retrieved by a spectator. Normally, this is not an issue.
What would you say if the 3,000th hit was a single, and when the outfielder threw the ball back in, the cutoff man said "I'm going to keep this, and sell it to Jeter for big bucks, because I'm just a AAA player having a cuppa coffee in the big leagues."
The Yankees could "recognize" Lopez as a free-lance sports writer, and give him a media credential, which would get him into every game, to watch the games from the press box. No tax liability. Or hire him as an honorary Yankee employee, with no specific responsibilities (like George Costanza).
The man who gave Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit ball back to the future Hall of Famer and received a treasure trove of gifts in return may be getting another unexpected gift — a five-figure tax bill.
The New York Times reported Monday that Christian Lopez, the fan that caught and returned Jeter’s home run ball on Saturday, could be facing a tax bill for all that he received in return for his good deed — potentially to the tune of about $14,000, according to one accountant.
If not selling it for a quarter of a million, at least get Jeter to pay off his student loan debts... but instead of saying he owed $100,000, try to get a couple more hundred thousand.
But as a Yankee hater, box seats, autographs, etc. not enough for a historic 3,000th hit ball.
It sounds like a total ripoff IMO. The estimated value of the seats is 30k+, the bats and all the other autographed junk is probably less than 10k altogether (which he would have to sell himself). He's a working man...which means he PROBABLY won't be able to even enjoy most of the games because he doesn't live in NYC, PLUS he works just like everyone else and has neither the time or the energy to be there every night.
Hell, even if he could go to all of the remaining games--who pays for his transportation, concessions etc? Is that part of the "gift" or does he have to come out of pocket?
Not only that, but he can't sell them either--that would be scalping (I think). If he put them on Stubhub, no one would probably buy those overpriced seats and they would end up going unused unless he gave them away. To add to boot, the IRS wants to tax him on it as a "gift." Word on the street is that neither the Yanks or Jeter can pay the taxes because that would be considered a taxable "gift" too.
The kid has a 100k in loans, and works as a salesman for Verizon. I wouldn't hesitate to say that he's probably barely scraping by. A class act by Jeter would have been to ACCEPT the ball as a gift, and write the man a check anyway as a gift for his thoughtfulness (if he hasn't done it already).
BTW...the estimated value of the ball I believe was 250k. Had he sold it, he could have afforded the VERY same luxury boxes for the next 2-3 following seasons, paid off his student loans and pocketed another 20-30k. Jeter would have been happy with the ball, and his heart wouldn't have skipped a beat off of the money, and the kid would have less of a heart attack dealing with all of this.
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, when the guy who catches Alex Rodriguez's 3000th hit in a couple years gets a cool quarter million or more for it.
