Surprise? Bonds' Record Ball to be Sold

While Matt Murphy claimed that he was going to keep it if possible, does it surprise anyone that the ball from Barry Bonds' 756th home run is going on sale? The 21 year-old Murphy, a Queens resident and Mets fan, caught the record-breaking ball earlier this month in San Francisco (while on the way to Australia), says that he's selling the ball for tax purposes. "It wasn't hard. It was simple math. I'm upset by the decision I had to make. I wanted to keep it. I'm young. I don't have the bank account. ... It would have cost me a lot more to keep it."

Some experts expect the ball to fetch at least $500,000 when it goes up for online auction by Sotheby’s and SCP Auctions from Aug. 28-Sept. 15. In addition to #756, SCP Auctions is also auctioning off #755, expected to sell for around $200,000. All that money when you can get a baseball from Rawlings for $12.99 (which also seems expensive).

Murphy, who wants to attend business school in NYC, hopes that whomever buys the ball will put it on loan to the Baseball Hall of Fame, "I really hope the person who does buy it is in position to loan it." He also plans to share some of the proceeds from the sale with the friend he was traveling with and attended the game with.

Photo of Matt Murphy at the Giants-Nationals game by Brant Ward/AP

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By tien mao on August 22, 2007 10:55 AM

Comments [rss]

guest

Actually you wouldn't get taxed on a found diamond that you didn't plan on selling, and 22 you go off on insurance which is a different thing entirely because it isn't obligatory. My opinion is that he just made that claim as a pleasantry to be PC. On all sites I've seen it says "several people" told him he would be taxed. Who? His dad? I'm sure no new changes have been made to the "collectors items" section of the IRS tax guidelines, and we haven't seen this problem in the past. I don't know.

guest

Sixteenth Amendment:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Sounds pretty clear cut to me.

guest

#24 if you're so smart why don't you just explain it here instead your snarky "do the research" comment? Since the tax has survived almost 100 years I assume your legal theories are dubious at best and any research is only going to lead to some crackpot website.

guest

@ Schwartzie & #7: The Supreme Court has ruled that the government has no authority to impose a direct unapportioned tax on the labor of the American people, and the 16th Amendment does not give the government that power. Income tax is a tax on profits and gains, NOT wages. Do the research.

guest

if your parents gave you $6000 to pay off a debt, they'd tax you.

No, it wouldn't. That would be a gift. Everyone is entitled to give another person $12,000 per year as a gift so your parents could give you a total of $24,000. Even if that amount is exceeded you don't owe tax but rather the gift giver has to deduct the amount from his/her lifetime estate exemption which is currently $2 million.

maevemealone

If I diamond fell from the sky and now belonged to you, you'd be taxed, if your parents gave you $6000 to pay off a debt, they'd tax you. Regardless of tax, he couldn't afford the insurance he'd have to pay to own that ball. Just like owning a Picasso, even if you can afford to buy it, often times you can't afford the insurance to keep it. It's one of the benefits of loaning things out to museums, they pick up the insurance tabs. I could go on, but I won't. Anyways, yes it sucks he has to sell it, but that's the breaks...

guest

Even found money has to be reported to the IRS as unearned income.

guest

possession is nine tenths of the law.

It's just a baseball for christ's sake. I would use it as bait in a pitbull dog fight. might as well make as many people angry at me while I'm at it.

JRod5417

Agree with #4, sell it while it's hot. Anyway you slice it, its free money for Murphy.

guest

Hopefully whoever buys it will have the decency to completely dismantle the ball, ripping out its insides, and then dousing it with gasoline to be burnt into nothingness. Barry Bonds can then rot in hell with #756*.

janelle

sucks about the taxes if he really wanted to keep it. i mean, hasn't the government heard of "finders-keepers"? sheesh.

personally, i'd sell it. i mean, the only other recourse would be to burn it...

Schwartzie

Number 5, take off the tinfoil hat already...

guest

it's just a fucking ball jebus!

guest

it's just a fucking balls jebus!

guest

it's not the ball he's paying taxes on, it's the $500,000 in income. It's an income tax. It's that easy.

Nick S

im i mistaken, or were original reports that him and his travel companion were going to split the proceeds down the middle? now its " a portion of"

i smell a dead friendship.

guest

Form 1099-MISC states the manufacturer's suggested retail value of the gift and you're required to pay the tax on that item.

What gift? This was found money. I don't think teams give out a 1099 to everyone that catches a foul ball.

guest

He simply wants the money. He would have been taxes on the MSRP of the ball, $12.99.

Form 1099-MISC states the manufacturer's suggested retail value of the gift and you're required to pay the tax on that item.

guest

I'm having a hard time believing this as well. Prizes, contest winnings, and gambling winnings are taxable but this is the same thing as finding money on the street or buying a Picasso at a garage sale. Usually you are taxed when you sell a collectible and you are taxed on you gain, just like a stock sale. In his case his "cost" would be zero.

guest

This story cannot be believed at face value.

I'm not sure if this guy ever spoke with the IRS and only that "several people told him he would be taxed on the souvenir just for holding on to it."