jeter...

[G8rDMD]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

The prize ball, one of the specially marked ones put in play for the occasion once Jeter got to 2,999 hits, disappeared into a cluster of fans a few rows beyond the wall. Christian Lopez of Highland Mills, N.Y., sitting in Section 236, emerged with the valuable memento after it bounced off his father's hand.

The 23-year-old former football player from St. Lawrence University gladly gave the ball back to Jeter, saying it never occurred to him to keep it. The Yankees rewarded him with four tickets to every game for the rest of the year, and memorabilia autographed by Jeter - three bats, three balls and two jerseys.

``Mr. Jeter deserved it,'' Lopez said. ``It's all his.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Very cool

[G8rDMD]

Originally Posted by 78SA

How many have gone 5 for 5 on the day they get #3000?

One

[LATB]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

The prize ball, one of the specially marked ones put in play for the occasion once Jeter got to 2,999 hits, disappeared into a cluster of fans a few rows beyond the wall. Christian Lopez of Highland Mills, N.Y., sitting in Section 236, emerged with the valuable memento after it bounced off his father's hand.

The 23-year-old former football player from St. Lawrence University gladly gave the ball back to Jeter, saying it never occurred to him to keep it. The Yankees rewarded him with four tickets to every game for the rest of the year, and memorabilia autographed by Jeter - three bats, three balls and two jerseys.

``Mr. Jeter deserved it,'' Lopez said. ``It's all his.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~

every once and a while a story like this emerges reminding us how great America & Americans can be

awesome

[G8rDMD]

And his girlfriend ain't bad, either

[...Whitepower...]

Originally Posted by LarsAtTheBeach

every once and a while a story like this emerges reminding us how great America & Americans can be

awesome

Speculation is that that ball is worth $250k to $400k.

Jeter just built a $7 million dollar home. HOUSE OF THE DAY: Derek Jeter Finishes Construction On His $7.7 Million Tampa Bay Mansion

That money would greatly improve the quality of life for me and my family. My home would be paid for, my kids education would be all set, my wife could be a stay at home mom and manage the real estate biz..

If it were me, I would have given Derek the first right of refusal and given him a week or two then it would be ebay time.


Hopefully this guy makes money doing talk shows or something else as a result of his 5 minutes of fame.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by ...Whitepower...

Speculation is that that ball is worth $250k to $400k.

Jeter just built a $7 million dollar home. HOUSE OF THE DAY: Derek Jeter Finishes Construction On His $7.7 Million Tampa Bay Mansion

That money would greatly improve the quality of life for me and my family. My home would be paid for, my kids education would be all set, my wife could be a stay at home mom and manage the real estate biz..

If it were me, I would have given Derek the first right of refusal and given him a week or two then it would be ebay time.


Hopefully this guy makes money doing talk shows or something else as a result of his 5 minutes of fame.

good point

btw, that home is ugly.

the guy is a great ball player and all....and has done a good job keeping his nose clean...

but stupid money builds homes like that.

what a joke.

I think you may be correct...tell Jeter to show me the fukin money.

[onedef92]

Originally Posted by ...Whitepower...

Speculation is that that ball is worth $250k to $400k.

Jeter just built a $7 million dollar home. HOUSE OF THE DAY: Derek Jeter Finishes Construction On His $7.7 Million Tampa Bay Mansion

That money would greatly improve the quality of life for me and my family. My home would be paid for, my kids education would be all set, my wife could be a stay at home mom and manage the real estate biz..

If it were me, I would have given Derek the first right of refusal and given him a week or two then it would be ebay time.


Hopefully this guy makes money doing talk shows or something else as a result of his 5 minutes of fame.

I'm not into professional sports at all and I would've done the same flippin' thing. Wouldn't have thought a thing about it, either.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by ...Whitepower...

Speculation is that that ball is worth $250k to $400k.

Jeter just built a $7 million dollar home. HOUSE OF THE DAY: Derek Jeter Finishes Construction On His $7.7 Million Tampa Bay Mansion

That money would greatly improve the quality of life for me and my family. My home would be paid for, my kids education would be all set, my wife could be a stay at home mom and manage the real estate biz..

If it were me, I would have given Derek the first right of refusal and given him a week or two then it would be ebay time.


Hopefully this guy makes money doing talk shows or something else as a result of his 5 minutes of fame.

It's a great story. But Derek could buy it from me.

[C5SilverBullet]

Originally Posted by ...Whitepower...

Speculation is that that ball is worth $250k to $400k.

Jeter just built a $7 million dollar home. HOUSE OF THE DAY: Derek Jeter Finishes Construction On His $7.7 Million Tampa Bay Mansion

That money would greatly improve the quality of life for me and my family. My home would be paid for, my kids education would be all set, my wife could be a stay at home mom and manage the real estate biz..

If it were me, I would have given Derek the first right of refusal and given him a week or two then it would be ebay time.


Hopefully this guy makes money doing talk shows or something else as a result of his 5 minutes of fame.

A friend of mine, Mark Crummley, caught Ken Griffey Jr's 500th home run ball in St. Louis. He gave it back to Griffey, and Jr took him on a shopping spree, flew him to the All Star Game, and paid for his college tuition.

[Uncle Pervey]

Originally Posted by C5SilverBullet

A friend of mine, Mark Crummley, caught Ken Griffey Jr's 500th home run ball in St. Louis. He gave it back to Griffey, and Jr took him on a shopping spree, flew him to the All Star Game, and paid for his college tuition.

There are still some atheletes out there that are class acts.

[Joecooool]

Remember that St. Louis guy that returned Big Mac's 62'nd home run ball? They said that ball could have sold for a million buck had he kept it.

[onedef92]

Originally Posted by Uncle Pervey

There are still some atheletes out there that are class acts.

With the operative word being "few." For example, I see Pacman Jones is still cuttin' the fool and shit...

Bengals' Jones arrested again

Updated Jul 11, 2011 3:30 AM ET

CINCINNATI -- Bengals cornerback Adam ''Pacman'' Jones was arrested Sunday in Cincinnati on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct while intoxicated and resisting arrest, adding to the list of off-the-field troubles that have marred his career.

The 27-year-old Jones was jailed around 3 a.m. and released later in the morning. Cincinnati media outlets reported documents filed in court accuse Jones of being disorderly and shouting profanities in a downtown bar and trying to pull away as officers arrested him.

Jones denied the allegations in an interview with WCPO-TV after leaving jail.

''I just had surgery, so why would I be resisting arrest?'' said Jones, who was wearing a neck brace. He's been recovering from a neck injury last fall that required surgery, but he was expecting to play this year.

He said he hadn't been drinking and was out with his wife to celebrate her birthday.

''It's ridiculous, man,'' he told the TV station. ''I keep on going through the same thing, and it don't make no sense.'' He also apologized to his fans and said he loves Cincinnati.

''Only thing I can do is be me and do what I'm supposed to do, but I was not yelling at the police. I did not yell profanity at the police. And at the end of the day ... I'm the bad guy,'' he said.

Jones, who was Tennessee's first-round pick in 2005, has repeatedly had troubles away from football, including at least six other arrests and a dozen instances that involved police intervention.

He was suspended for the 2007 season with the Titans, then signed by Dallas, where he was suspended for six games the following year for an alcohol-related scuffle. He sat out for a year before signing a two-year deal with Cincinnati in May 2010. Police there questioned him last fall after he drove his vehicle over a downtown curb to avoid an obstacle and then apologized to him, saying it was a mistake and he'd done nothing wrong.

A Bengals spokesman said the team had no comment on the most recent arrest. The team is prohibited from having contact with Jones because of the NFL lockout.

[G8rDMD]

Originally Posted by Uncle Pervey

There are still some atheletes out there that are class acts.

There are definitely a select few... Jeter and Tebow being the two that come quickest to mind

[C5SilverBullet]

Christian Lopez might end up wishing he kept that baseball after all.

Lopez became more than a footnote to the spectacle of Derek Jeter(notes) getting his 3,000th hit on Saturday at Yankee Stadium by returning the milestone baseball to the New York Yankees shortstop rather than cash it in for a likely six-figure payday. That touched off a debate still raging among fans days later: Would you have given the ball back or sold it to the highest bidder for a payday that was rumored as high as $250,000?

For his gesture, Lopez was rewarded by the Yankees with luxury box tickets for the rest of the season (including postseason), along with signed baseballs, bats and jerseys from Jeter. In addition, Lopez received four premium front-row seats to last Sunday's Yankees-Rays game.

Nice haul, right? Sure, but with those generous gifts comes tax liability. As George Harrison once sang for the Beatles, "Let me tell you how it will be; There's one for you, nineteen for me. 'Cause I'm the Taxman."

The IRS will likely consider Lopez's gratuities from the Yankees as income, and if so, he could end up having to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $13,000 in taxes, according to the New York Daily News. The New York Times, meanwhile, says the face value of the tickets to the remaining 32 regular season games at Yankee Stadium are worth anywhere between $44,800 and $73,600. The paper's conservative estimate puts Lopez's tax bill at $14,000.

Lopez, however, seems unfazed by these revelations.

If the IRS comes calling, he says he'll pay those taxes:

"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he told the Daily News on Monday. "I'm not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be.

"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."

It's unclear from the quote whether the "they" Lopez refers to means the IRS or the Yankees. The IRS could obviously help him out by considering the items he was rewarded as gifts, rather than income. Then he wouldn't owe as much in taxes.

But could Derek Jeter or the Yankees also step in and pay the taxes for Lopez? One tax expert the Daily News spoke to made that very suggestion.

What a buzzkill. Lopez expressed hope that his parents would help him out with whatever taxes he might owe. But they could rightfully point out that some of that memorabilia — not to mention many of those tickets — could be sold off to cover his expenses. (Lopez might have to do that anyway, telling reporters that he still owes more than $100,000 in student loans.)

Lopez being essentially punished for what so many saw as a good deed and selfless act makes for a troubling epilogue to a nice story.

But maybe there's still a happy ending to come.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by C5SilverBullet

Christian Lopez might end up wishing he kept that baseball after all.

Lopez became more than a footnote to the spectacle of Derek Jeter(notes) getting his 3,000th hit on Saturday at Yankee Stadium by returning the milestone baseball to the New York Yankees shortstop rather than cash it in for a likely six-figure payday. That touched off a debate still raging among fans days later: Would you have given the ball back or sold it to the highest bidder for a payday that was rumored as high as $250,000?

For his gesture, Lopez was rewarded by the Yankees with luxury box tickets for the rest of the season (including postseason), along with signed baseballs, bats and jerseys from Jeter. In addition, Lopez received four premium front-row seats to last Sunday's Yankees-Rays game.

Nice haul, right? Sure, but with those generous gifts comes tax liability. As George Harrison once sang for the Beatles, "Let me tell you how it will be; There's one for you, nineteen for me. 'Cause I'm the Taxman."

The IRS will likely consider Lopez's gratuities from the Yankees as income, and if so, he could end up having to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $13,000 in taxes, according to the New York Daily News. The New York Times, meanwhile, says the face value of the tickets to the remaining 32 regular season games at Yankee Stadium are worth anywhere between $44,800 and $73,600. The paper's conservative estimate puts Lopez's tax bill at $14,000.

Lopez, however, seems unfazed by these revelations.

If the IRS comes calling, he says he'll pay those taxes:

"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he told the Daily News on Monday. "I'm not going to return the seats. I have a lot of family and friends who will help me out if need be.

"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."

It's unclear from the quote whether the "they" Lopez refers to means the IRS or the Yankees. The IRS could obviously help him out by considering the items he was rewarded as gifts, rather than income. Then he wouldn't owe as much in taxes.

But could Derek Jeter or the Yankees also step in and pay the taxes for Lopez? One tax expert the Daily News spoke to made that very suggestion.

What a buzzkill. Lopez expressed hope that his parents would help him out with whatever taxes he might owe. But they could rightfully point out that some of that memorabilia — not to mention many of those tickets — could be sold off to cover his expenses. (Lopez might have to do that anyway, telling reporters that he still owes more than $100,000 in student loans.)

Lopez being essentially punished for what so many saw as a good deed and selfless act makes for a troubling epilogue to a nice story.

But maybe there's still a happy ending to come.

Jeter need to pay the man's tax bill.