Jeter ball returner may owe taxes

NEW YORK, July 13 (UPI) -- Tax experts said the man who gave New York Yankee Derek Jeter his 3,000th-hit ball will likely owe thousands for the luxury seats he received in return.

Experts said Christian Lopez, 23, who gave the ball to Jeter after the game Saturday, received luxury seats from the Yankees as a thank you gift and will likely owe $5,000 to $13,000 in taxes for the seats, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

"He's a great guy," said Terry Ganer, an accountant for Ganer Grossbach & Ganer in New York. "But I'm pretty sure the tax man, unfortunately, is not a Yankee fan and will not look at this so sympathetically."

Lopez said he will pay the taxes on the seats if he has to and he has family and friends he can call on for help.

"Worse comes to worse, I'll have to pay the taxes," he said. "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," Lopez said.