eBay wants Bond’s record-breaking 756th baseball - what do you think?
Posted on August 9th, 2007 by Janelle
LOL…ok, so this is up on eBay’s homepage since the record-breaking Barry Bond’s homerun took place on Tuesday. In case you missed the huge sports news, here is a brief synopsis:
On Tuesday, August 7th, 2007, Matt Murphy from NY (even had Mets gear on) came up from a pile of people with SF Giant Barry Bond’s record-breaking homerun baseball in his hands. Here are some of the details:
- he wasn’t even supposed to be at the game and was just in SF on a layover heading to Australia
- He’s, obviously, a Met’s fan
- He is ‘leaning’ towards the idea of keeping the ball
- if he keeps the ball, he’ll have to pay taxes on it’s estimated worth ($500,000) and capital gains taxes (possibly) in the future as the ball gains in worth
- also, if the whole steroids thing plays out with Barry, the ball could easily diminish in value (and Mr Murphy could take a loss on his taxes)
- OR, as requested by eBay, he could sell it to a die-hard fan and take the money and run (he would still have to pay taxes). Murphy has also agreed to give 49% of the sale, if it took place, to his friend ‘who had my back’ at the game. (not sure if this is before or after the tax situation)
So what do YOU think? Should he keep it, sell it, have thrown it back at Barry Bonds, give 100% charity, or something else? Click ‘leave your comment’ to help Mr Murphy decide what to do…
Wow, I have been following the Barry Bonds Drama. (I personally would never watch sports on my own, but I love a man who watches sports constantly, he also cleans, cooks, and does his own laundry, so I figure the sports thing is a good trade-off!) Truly a bummer that the ‘catcher of the ball’ has to pay taxes, on what the IRS may deem the ball is worth! It makes it nearly impossible to keep! SO, I think he should sell the ball and bank the money, unless he has an income which would not make keeping the ball a problem.
LOL…Carrie if you have a man who does all of that, then put HIM up on eBay. You would get more than the baseball!!
First all the ball is only worth about 5 to 10 dollar right now or what you could buy it for in a sporting goods store in the box. He will only have to pay taxes on the ball “if” he sales it. There is not value to the ball itself until it is sold for tax reasons.
Ah…not so fast my friend. Read what the Wall Street Journal Blog says about that:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/07/25/tax-law-final-exam-question-barry-bondss-ball/ Appears to be quite a tax debate over this question.