Fan who handed over Derek Jeter’s 3,000th-hit ball could owe IRS thousands
Sun-Times Staff Report July 12, 2011 1:26PM
Christian Lopez speaks during a news conference at Yankee Stadium, Saturday, July 9, 2011, in New York. Lopez caught New York Yankees' Derek Jeter's 3,000th career hit ball during a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Jeter became the 28th major leaguer and first Yankees player to reach the milestone. Yankees won 5-4. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
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Updated: July 13, 2011 6:15AM
Usually you’d be pretty happy about catching a ball while at a baseball game. But for Christian Lopez, catching Derek Jeter’s historic 3,000th-hit ball could end up costing him thousands of dollars to the IRS.
After catching and happily returning the ball to Jeter, the New York Yankees rewarded him with luxury suite tickets for every remaining home game and any postseason games the Yankees may play in. The seats are valued at around $32,000.
Tax pros are saying Lopez could owe the IRS $5,000 to $13,000 for the seats.
Lopez tells the New York Daily News, “The IRS has a job to do, so I’m not going to hold it against them, but it would be cool if they helped me out a little on this.”
