Christian Lopez Might Owe Taxes On Rewards For Returning Jeter’s 3,000th [VIDEO]

Christian Lopez might end up wishing he had kept that baseball after all.

Christian Lopez caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit Saturday at Yankee Stadium. He then returned the baseball to the New York Yankees shortstop rather than cashing it in. Christian could have sold it to the highest bidder for some big bucks, maybe as much as $250,000?

For his good deed, Christian Lopez was rewarded by the Yankees. The Yankees gave him luxury box tickets for the rest of the season, signed baseballs, bats and jerseys from Jeter.

Uncle Sam wants his share of the winnings too. With those nice gifts comes tax liability. Lopez's gratuities from the Yankees will be viewed by the IRS as income, so he could end up paying somewhere around $5,000 to $13,000 in taxes, according to the New York Daily News.

The New York Times, meanwhile, says the face value of the tickets to the remaining 32 regular-season games at Yankee Stadium are worth anywhere between $44,800 and $73,600. The paper's conservative estimate puts Lopez's tax bill at $14,000.

[Yahoo Sports]