Murphy's Law: A New Twist

[notjustjay]

Yeah, seriously, of course sell. $400,000?!

It's cheapskate math to think otherwise.

 

[whooleytoo]

That would be Moore's Law.

Wow, a Moore-Murphy law would be interesting:

"In 18 months, not only will things go wrong, but they'll go twice as wrong, twice as fast".

Wow, not a bad summation of the industry there..

 

[whooleytoo]

Here's another twist on this: didn't he, technically, steal the ball? Is there something written on the match ticket that states if you catch the ball, you own it? If not, surely it's theft. Grand larceny, I'd imagine.

 

[David G.]

Theft, yeah right. Look at the police officers protecting him and the ball. I don't think they would have done that if it could be classified as theft.

 

[jdechko]

Looking at the picture, I'd sell the ball and sue the cop. Look how he's violating that guy.

 

[johnee]

What really would irk people is that throwing it back wouldn't be a qualifying tax deduction - he could still owe taxes.
.

That's complete nonsense. Simply catching the ball does not establish ownership. does that mean I own everything I simply pick up with my hands, hold for a few minutes, then throw away? no, it doesn't.

I sure hope the IRS doesn't think that way. I didn't check out the McGuire case, but are there established precedents for ownership by temporary possession?

 

[whooleytoo]

Theft, yeah right. Look at the police officers protecting him and the ball. I don't think they would have done that if it could be classified as theft.

It's pretty obvious they didn't view it as theft. I'm just wondering why not.

The ball was the property of someone else (I've no idea, the MLB?) before the game, and he caught it and left the ground with it. Unless there's something on the ticket stating the catcher owns the ball, then technically, it's theft, no?

Obviously it's not an issue with a ball worth a few dollars, but when it's worth several hundred thousand dollars, I'd have thought it becomes more interesting.

 

[johnee]

The frustrating part though, is that he probably doesn't have a choice. He couldn't keep it on his mantle if he wanted to, since there's a chance it would cost him $210k to do so.

Not really being a baseball fan, I never really thought about that aspect. This is similar to the guy that won a seat into space :

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy came true when he won a free trip to outer space. He was crushed when he had to cancel his reservation because of Uncle Sam.

Emmett won his ticket to the heavens in a 2005 sweepstakes by Oracle Corp., in which he answered a series of online questions on Java computer code. He became an instant celebrity, giving media interviews and appearing on stage at Oracle's trade show.

For the self-described space buff who has attended space camp and watched shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center, it seemed like a chance to become an astronaut on a dime.

Then reality struck. After some number-crunching, Emmett realized he would have to report the $138,000 galactic joy ride as income and owe $25,000 in taxes. Unwilling to sink into debt, the 31-year-old software consultant from the San Francisco Bay area gave up his seat.

 

[notjustjay]

Not really being a baseball fan, I never really thought about that aspect. This is similar to the guy that won a seat into space :

Dang. I'd have paid $25,000 to go into space. Other people have put up a lot more money than that just to be one of the first civilian space travellers.

As for the ball, isn't it printed somewhere that if you catch the ball you get to keep it? I could swear I remember reading that somewhere, whether in the fine print of a ticket purchase or the house rules of a stadium.

 

[nbs2]

That's complete nonsense. Simply catching the ball does not establish ownership. does that mean I own everything I simply pick up with my hands, hold for a few minutes, then throw away? no, it doesn't.

I sure hope the IRS doesn't think that way. I didn't check out the McGuire case, but are there established precedents for ownership by temporary possession?

As for the ball, isn't it printed somewhere that if you catch the ball you get to keep it? I could swear I remember reading that somewhere, whether in the fine print of a ticket purchase or the house rules of a stadium.

I believe it is major league baseball itself that relinquishes any right of ownership to materials that have left the field of play, and that the same release is required of all major league teams. In any event, even if it wasn't policy, past actions would have pushed it into common law.

As for owning the ball - posession is viewed as a superior method of establishing ownership (one reason why we have serial numbers for our laptops and etched our names into our calculators). By taking full possession of the ball, he would arguably become the ball's owner and thus would be responsible for taxes owed. A deduction from his income could be made if he donated the ball to a qualifying charity, but tossing the ball back into the field is not a qualifying charity.

I'm not saying what the IRS would do, just what they could do. And to ease your concerns, I don't think the IRS would do it.

 

[iKwick7]

In theory, in baseball at least, once a ball goes over a wall it is in the hands of anyone in the stands.

I remember reading somewhere that if a bat goes into the stands you are supposed to give it back, though- not sure about that.

I would've given the ball back to Barry.

I'm the type of person that would, normally, be all about giving a player a ball that I caught, should they want it. It's something that is very important to them.

That being said, I think Barry is an ass hat, and I would either offer him first dibs on buying the ball from me or selling it on the market. I just don't like the man, never did (even before the whole steroid thing).

 

[johnee]

I'm not saying what the IRS would do, just what they could do. And to ease your concerns, I don't think the IRS would do it.

geesh, i hope not. the ownership debate seems like it could turn into one of those arguments such as "it depends on what the definition of 'is' is" haha

 

[cantthinkofone]

personnally i would sell the ball to the highest bidder, and then go to the IRS building and give them the old helicopter, and use the money i got from the ball to bail my self out of jail for indecent exposure

 

[EricNau]

Edit: I would've given the ball back to Barry.

If Barry wants the ball he can definitely afford to buy it.