Christian Lopez, the fan who caught Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit, may wind up paying for all of that free memorabilia he got from the Yankees.
If Lopez would have kept the ball, it likely would have sold for $150,000 or more at auction.
He gave it back and as a thank you, the team turned over some signed balls, jerseys and bats from Jeter plus luxury box tickets for the rest of the season. All of it has value and there’s no doubt the IRS is watching.
The face value of the luxury box tickets are worth anywhere between $44,800 and $73,600 and the memorabilia is likely worth a few thousand dollars too. Lopez could end up having a tax bill for as much as $14,000, maybe more.
He may have to sell off some of the tickets and memorabilia in order to pay the IRS tab.
Tax experts say he could have possibly cleared nearly $200,000 even after paying the 8.75% New York sales tax, which would have easily paid off the $100,000 he says he still owes on student loans.
The New York Daily News sorts it out–and offers some references to windfalls brought by other historic baseballs caught by fans.
