Let's set the stage: you and your
father are spending some quality time together at the ballpark on a
Friday afternoon, hoping to see your home team, the New York
Yankees, pull off a win against the Tampa Bay Rays. The sun is
shining brightly, the vendors are slinging brats and brew, and the
Yankees fans are ramped up for today's big game. And it is a big
game, because as any good Yankees fan knows, shortstop Derek Jeter
has 2,999 hits under his career belt, and today might just make
history by joining the 3,000 hits club. Only 27 other players have
reached this magic number, all of them giants, like Ty Cobb and
Hank Aaron.
Fast-forward to the third inning. Jeter is up to bat and digs in
at home. Pitcher David Price looks for the sign from catcher John
Jaso. Price serves up Jeter a delicious, inside pitch on a silver
platter, which Jeter takes apart with a blast from the bat that
looks like it will send the ball deep into left field. Time stands
still. You, your father and thousands of other baseball fans
sweating in the Yankees stadium rise to your feet, jaws dropped,
waiting to see where this drive is going to land. In an instant,
you see your father reaching into the air at an attempt to catch
the homerun, Jeter's 3,000th hit. He misses, but the ball rolls
right in front of you. You flash back to your college football
training and dive on the ball, then find yourself at the bottom of
a stack of fans who are all reaching for the golden ball. Almost
immediately, you are snagged up by stadium security and whisked
away to the Yankees manager's office for an interview. The rest is
baseball history …
This is how one lucky Yankees fan, Christian Lopez, spent a day
at the park with his father on July 9, making him part of MLB
history.
Little did Lopez know at the time, but he may have just made a
costly catch, potentially as much as an estimated $14,000 in tax
liability, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
In the manager's office, Lopez gave the ball to Jeter, feeling
that he was the ball's true owner. In return, the Yankees gave
Lopez four Champions Suite season tickets for the team's remaining
home games, and any postseason games, along with three bats, three
balls and two jerseys. Each item was signed by Mr. 3,000 himself,
Derek Jeter. In addition, the team gave Lopez four front-row
Legends seats, which sell for up to $1,358.90 each.
The New York Times estimated the value of these gifts
as:
The tickets to the 32 remaining home
games (after Sunday) have a combined face value of $44,800 to
$73,600, according to the team's Web site. The tickets could be
worth a lot more if the Yankees play deep into October. Steven
Bandini, a tax partner at the accounting firm Zapken & Loeb,
said that if the items were valued modestly at $50,000, they would
probably carry a tax burden of about $14,000.
With this shower of gifts from the Yankees, one of life's rules
comes into play - nothing is free. As Paul Caron, tax professor at
the University of Cincinnati law school, put it, "pretty clearly
he's going to have to report as income the value of all the stuff
he got for the ball."
Others are speculating that the IRS may treat this as a gift,
while Lopez said if he has to pay taxes, he hopes he can borrow
from his parents rather than sell his memorabilia.
We shall see if the IRS steps up to the plate to help this fan
of America's favorite pastime.