Christian Lopez has been praised and excoriated for handing over Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit ball.  The Tax Man won't be that generous. The 23-year old cell phone salesman will likely owe thousands to the IRS due to the pricey seats the New York Yankees gave him as a reward, according to the New York Daily News.  Lopez already owes $100,000 in student loans. But after catching the Jeter homer, the former college football player handed the ball off to the Yankee star with no strings attached.  The Yankees rewarded Lopez with season and post-season tickets and bats, ball and jerseys signed by Jeter. The New York Times interviewed one tax expert who estimated if those goodies are valued at $50,000, then Lopez probably could owe $14,000 in taxes.  TELL US: Would you have sold or given up Jeter ball?  Lopez told the Daily News:  Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes. 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.  Jeter's one of the most popular athletes in the world. Lopez could have made a ton of money if he held on to the ball and sold it to the highest bidder: Notes the NYT:  Fans have not always been as generous with their windfalls. In 2006, a San Francisco man named Andrew Morbitzer, who recovered Barry Bonds's record-breaking 715th home run ball, sold the ball on eBay for $220,100. The ball Mark McGwire hit for his record-breaking 70th home run in 1998 sold for around $3 million.  See photos of: New York Yankees, Barry Bonds, Derek Jeter  To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor  . For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to  . Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to
Fan who gave up Jeter's 3K ball on hook to IRS - Game On!: Covering the Latest Sports News