Jeter’s Tax Woes

New York tax officials say Derek Jeter should have been taxed as a state resident from 2001-03, which potentially could cost the Yankees captain millions of dollars.

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Jeter says he is a Florida resident, but the State Division of Taxation of Finance argues that he had a New York residence during that period.

Jeter was given notice in February, then filed a petition for redetermination. In a five-page order from Administrative Law Judge Timothy J. Alston that was dated Nov. 7, the division was told to furnish Jeter with a more detailed bill specifying his “community involvement in jurisdictions other than Florida” and “public statements regarding his desire to be in New York.”

Alston also asked the agency to give specifics of its “vague claim” that Jeter became “immersed in the New York community.” He accepted the department’s assertion that Jeter had “items near and dear” in his New York apartment.

Florida does not have a state income tax, while New York state and city do have income taxes.

“As a Yankee, Derek has great affection for the people of New York and its amazing fans, but since the mid-1990s, he has made his home in Tampa, Florida,” Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, said in a statement.

The case was first reported by FoxNews.com.

Jeter’s contract with the Yankees called for him to receive salaries of $11 million in 2001, $13 million in 2002 and $14 million in 2003. In addition, he has a $16 million signing bonus payable between February 2001 and June 2008.

Jeter purchased an apartment at Trump World Tower in October 2001, according to New York City real estate records.

37 arrested after World Series

BOSTON (AP) — Police in riot gear cleared several large crowds gathered around Fenway Park early Monday after the Red Sox won their second World Series title in four years.

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Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said 37 arrests were made in the city, mostly for disorderly conduct. No serious injuries were reported.

An unruly crowd flipped a pickup truck to its side near Fenway Park and at least one car fire was reported. Young people sprayed each other with beer and some climbed street signs or utility poles.
“Two World Series in four years is pure heaven,” said Andrew Dumas, a Boston University student from West Boylston.
Police shut down access to Kenmore Square, near Fenway, as Game 4 neared its end in Denver Sunday night. The Red Sox won the game 4-3, touching off celebrations around New England.
Boston authorities cracked down on rowdy sports celebrations after an Emerson College student was struck and killed by a pepper pellet fired by police into an unruly crowd celebrating the Red Sox’s 2004 victory over the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
On Sunday, hundreds of police officers took positions on foot, bicycle and horseback around Fenway, hoping to discourage fans from congregating around the ballpark. The police department had announced it would have more than 50 cameras trained on the city to record any vandalism.
Elsewhere around the region, some 1,500 University of Massachusetts-Amherst students poured out of their dormitories after Boston completed its sweep.
The university said on its Web site that the crowd was boisterous but peaceful, with no damage reported. Six people were arrested for disorderly conduct or for failing to obey a dispersal order that was issued at about 12:45 a.m.
One person suffered a minor injury when he fell to the ground while body surfing.
In Durham, N.H., several thousand University of New Hampshire students gathered on Main Street, many carrying brooms and chanting “sweep, sweep, sweep.”
Several dozen police officers, some in riot gear, pushed the crowds back toward campus and no arrests or injuries were reported.
The victorious Red Sox were expected to arrive back in Boston at about 3:30 p.m. Monday and head to Fenway Park. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said the city would meet with team officials later in the day before announcing details of a public celebration, possibly as early as Tuesday.
Menino said he expected the parade to be similar to the “rolling rally” that was held after the 2004 title, in which players rode around the city in Duck Boats.

Tim Wakefield Out of the Series

BOSTON (AP) — Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield is being left off Boston’s roster for the World Series because of a bad shoulder.

The 41-year-old Wakefield fought through back problems late in the season and was kept off the roster for the first-round series against the Los Angeles Angels. He has pitched once since Sept. 29, allowing five runs in 4 2-3 innings in Game 4 of the AL championship series against the Cleveland Indians.

Wakefield was 17-12 with a 4.76 ERA in the regular season.Also Tuesday, Red Sox manager Terry Francona saidJacoby Ellsbury would start Game 1 in center field in place of Coco Crisp.

Crisp struggled in the playoffs and was replaced in the lineup for Games 6 and 7 against Cleveland, and he also banged into the wall catching the final out of the ALCS.

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Sox Fan Gets Snubbed

USA Today

Griffin Whitman, a 10-year-old Red Sox fan, asked Yankees outfielder Shelley Duncan for his autograph before Friday’s big game. The 27-year-old wrote “RED SOX SUCK!” and signed his name before returning the boy’s spiral-bound notebook.

“It was cool to get his autograph,” Griffin tells the Boston Herald. “It didn’t make me feel happy when he wrote that.

Duncan tells the paper he’s surprised that Griffith and his parents were offended. “I thought I was back in middle school or high school, where you try to make a joke or say something funny, and you end up saying something that gets you in trouble,” Duncan says. “I try to be interactive with people, be funny, have a good time and have a laugh. It’s not always Yankees fans that have us sign stuff. I try to rile ’em up and be fun. I don’t expect anybody to make a big deal about it. Nobody ever has before.”

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Judge Will Not Reveal Names Of MLB Steroid Users

AFP

A federal judge ruled Friday that the names of up to 23 Major League Baseball players who could be linked to the latest US steroid scandal will remain private.

US District Judge Thomas Platt ruled that while the names are available to former US Senator George Mitchell, who heads an investigation for Major League Baseball, they will not be revealed to the public.

The names are those who former New York Mets clubhouse visitor Kirk Radomski says he supplied with performance-enhancing drugs. Two newspapers had hoped to unseal the names, saying giving them to Mitchell was making them public.

Radomski agreed to a plea deal in April requiring him to cooperate with Mitchell’s panel, which was assembled 18 months ago to look into doping allegations against major leaguers over the past decade or so.

In the written decision, the court ruled that people whose names were not made public remain crucial in the ongoing investigation, as do people linked to those named.

A grand jury in San Francisco continues to investigate all-time US major league home run king Barry Bonds on tax and other charges related to the BALCO steroid scandal.

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Barry Bonds 756th Baseball

Yahoo Sports –

Ever since Barry Bonds broke baseball’s home run record, his limp to irrelevancy has become more pronounced. The San Francisco Giants are slumming in last place, Bonds often rests his weary 43-year-old body and the performance-enhancing drug mess, at least for now, seems focused elsewhere.

“I haven’t heard a word about him in weeks,” Matt Murphy says. “It’s (messing) up my cause.”

Murphy’s cause is his bank account, which stands to fatten substantially Saturday when the 756th home run ball of Bonds’ career – Murphy’s megabucks needle plucked from the haystack of fortune-seekers – sells at auction. As of early Friday morning, the bid stood at $260,555, though the number figures to jump substantially within the next two days. Perhaps to the $500,000 Murphy hopes to fetch. Maybe even closer to the record $3 million spent on Mark McGwire’s 70th home run in 1998.

“I’ve been playing it off like it’s nothing,” Murphy says. “How? I have no idea. In my mind, I’m doing cartwheels.”

For almost five weeks now, the mental gymnastics have been at Olympic-gold level. When Bonds launched a Mike Bacsik pitch into the right-center field stands Aug. 7 to pass Hank Aaron, Murphy, a 21-year-old Mets fan from New York City, emerged from the pile with a different life.

Once the ball was authenticated, Murphy returned to his hotel in San Francisco, dropped it in his room safe, showered, changed the safe’s combination, bought three bottles of champagne and spent the rest of the night plopped in front of the door waiting for somebody to break in. He and his friend Amir Kamal, with whom he plans a 51-49 split of the auction’s proceeds, didn’t sleep.

The next day, they took the ball to a local bank and placed it in a safe-deposit box. Soon after, they jumped on a 14½-hour flight to Australia. San Francisco, as fortuity would have it, was simply a day trip on the way to their real vacation with a third friend, Ryan Breslin, whose sister Abigail, from “Little Miss Sunshine,” was filming a movie down under.

Myths multiplied as Murphy went underground. One TV report claimed he choked an old man to get the ball. Another story said he lost a shoe. And another that he scalped tickets. Plus one that he was sitting in the wrong seat. All false.

Murphy’s only communication with the public took place through an eBay auction. After a long night out with his friends, one suggested Murphy put the Jose Reyes jersey he wore when catching the Bonds ball up for bid. His mom saw the picture, told him he looked like a slob and that he should take it down immediately. He did, and now the jersey will be auctioned professionally.

Of course, Murphy no longer resembles the guy in the picture. The hair is shorter. The beard is gone. He wanted to play incognito – just in case.

It’s that fear of becoming a hot target for burglars – and, yes, the tax implications – that convinced Murphy to sell. The bidding’s initial phase ends Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Those who have placed a bid will be allowed to participate for the next two hours in an extended-bidding phase. And the closing auction begins at 6 p.m., when the bidding ends if no one has trumped the previous high within 30 minutes.

Once that happens, the ivory orb laced with history will have its second owner.

“It’s going to be sad to give it up,” Murphy says.

He hasn’t planned a celebration. The money, for now, will go into an interest-bearing account before Murphy decides whether to invest it in mutual funds or start a business or … who knows? He’s 21, digs his work supervising contractor jobs in million-dollar New York apartments and isn’t in any hurry to change his life.

The Mets loved the fact that their logo will forever loop in highlights of Bonds’ 756th, so he’s gotten some nice seats at Shea Stadium recently. Topps is putting out a trading card of Murphy. (“I’ll trade three Michael Jordans for a Matt Murphy,” he says.) Women tend to flock toward guys with a primo auction at Sotheby’s.

Then Murphy listens to his friend Breslin wonder why the bidding stands at only a quarter-million and, searching for an inkling of optimism, scans the Giants’ box scores.

“The past couple of weeks I’ve been thinking, ‘Barry, please hit four home runs tonight,’ ” Murphy says. “I don’t know if it would do anything directly for me.

“Still, I’m surprised. I figured you’d be tracking his home runs. Why isn’t anyone?”

Because the drama was in the chase, and even then, it was more tragicomedy than anything. Bonds has hit six home runs since No. 756, each setting a new record, and yet the reaction is more apathy than excitement.

Bonds’ season has been like a Mylar balloon that loses tiny bits of helium every day until it’s a withered, shriveled bit of inconsequence. The auction is one of the final things keeping it afloat. Will collectors damn the record with their checkbooks, or will history – no matter its trappings – win out?

Matt Murphy can’t wait to find out. Instead of the cartwheels in his head, he’s hoping to do a few around his living room.

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Phil Rizzuto Dies at Age 89

NEW YORK – His speed and spunk made him a Hall of Famer. “Holy cow!” made Phil Rizzuto famous. Popular as a player and beloved as a broadcaster, the New York Yankees shortstop during their dynasty years of the 1940s and 1950s died Monday night. “The Scooter” was 89.

Rizzuto had pneumonia and died in his sleep at a nursing home in West Orange, N.J., daughter Patricia Rizzuto said Tuesday. He had been in declining health for several years.

“I guess heaven must have needed a shortstop,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “He epitomized the Yankee spirit — gritty and hard charging — and he wore the pinstripes proudly.”

Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago Cubs

CHICAGO (AP) — Now the Chicago Cubs are really getting beat up — by each other.

Carlos Zambrano and catcher Michael Barrett shoved each other in the dugout, then the pitcher busted his teammate’s lip in the clubhouse so badly that Barrett wound up in a hospital.

Oh yeah, the Cubs lost again, 8-5 to the Atlanta Braves on Friday.

“I only have so many players that I can play. You know?” manager Lou Piniella said during a postgame media session with reporters that escalated into shouting. “And it’s about time some of them start playing like major leaguers! Or, get somebody else in here that can catch the damn ball or run the bases properly! All right? That’s all I can say!”

Piniella left the interview room, muttering a profanity along the way. It wasn’t clear if he was singling out Barrett, who had a baserunning blunder earlier in the week, or referring to the whole team.

Both players will be disciplined Saturday, according to the manager.

“These things shouldn’t happen,” Piniella said earlier in the session. “Go fight the other team if you have to. Amongst yourselves? It happens, but it really shouldn’t.”

Atlanta had just scored five runs in the top of the fifth to increase its lead to 7-1. Jeff Francoeur’s two-run double made it 4-1 and, with runners on first and second, Barrett allowed a passed ball and threw wildly to third for an error that let Scott Thorman score. Pitcher Kyle Davies (3-3) and Kelly Johnson followed with RBI doubles.

Zambrano (5-5) was seen pointing at his head and yelling at the catcher in the dugout before the bottom half, while Barrett pointed toward the field. There was shoving and some slaps.

Zambrano cocked his right fist as they were being separated. Piniella said Zambrano was upset about the passed ball, and the manager along with several players walked the pitcher back to the clubhouse. Piniella told Zambrano to take a shower and go home, then returned to the dugout.

Moments later, a clubhouse attendant could be seen telling Piniella something. Derrek Lee jumped up and headed into the tunnel, and Piniella and pitching coach Larry Rothschild followed.

“Michael went up there,” Piniella said. “I was watching the game.”

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Piniella also banished Barrett, who was being examined after the game at a hospital.

“You don’t want to see people fight one another on your own team,” he said. “You don’t want to see it. You really don’t. And at the same time, you don’t like to see some of the silliness that’s going on the field.

Scott Eyre relieved Zambrano, who was pitching on his 26th birthday and allowed a career-high 13 hits in five innings. Koyie Hill, who had just been called up from Triple-A Iowa, replaced Barrett.

“Your whole family’s watching, and that’s the last thing you want,” Chicago’s Aramis Ramirez said.

General manager Jim Hendry, who was on a scouting trip, said Barrett received stitches to close the cut.

“It’s disappointing,” Hendry said. “You certainly don’t like to see that. Frustration set in. You’ve got two guys who care about winning.”

Assistant general manager Randy Bush said: “As an organization, we’re very disappointed about the incident between Michael and Carlos. They’re two highly competitive, caring individuals, who put a lot into the game. Frustrations boiled over. It can happen. … We’re very disappointed. I think it shows the level of frustration among the players, the coaches, the general manager, the front office.”

Atlanta felt sorry for the Cubs.

“In baseball, you never want to see that,” Francoeur said. “Even on the other team, no matter how bad stuff is. That’s an unfortunate incident but they’re professionals and I’m sure they’ll make up and move on.”

Davies allowed one run and six hits in seven innings for the Braves, who had a season-high 20 hits. Davis, Johnson, Edgar Renteria and Willie Harris had three apiece.

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Chicago has lost nine of 11 and is 22-30 — not exactly the start the Cubs were looking for after spending $300 million to bring in Piniella along with free agents Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.

Chicago committed several baserunning blunders — one by Barrett — Tuesday in a 9-4 loss to Florida that Piniella had said “might be our worst game of the year.” A day later, the players held a lengthy pregame meeting, and Piniella and team executives had one of their own. Then, the Marlins beat them 9-0.

It was just as bad Friday.

Johnson sent a pop to shallow left on the game’s second pitch and it fell for a single as shortstop Ryan Theriot seemed to lose it in the sun. With one out, Ramirez bobbled Renteria’s grounder to third and had to settle for getting the runner at first instead of a possible double play. Brian McCann then singled to put the Braves ahead to stay.

Cubs right fielder Matt Murton dropped a fly in the fourth, allowing another run to score.

“We’re a bad team right now,” Lee said.

Although they won for the third time in four games, the Braves got some more bad news on third baseman Chipper Jones. He’ll go on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised right hand on Saturday, manager Bobby Cox said. Jones has been experiencing pain in both hands since a baserunning collision on May 11 and had missed his eighth straight game.

Yankees fire strength and conditioning coach

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The New York Yankees fired their strength and conditioning coach Wednesday following a rash of injuries to the pitching staff that has contributed to the team’s poor start.

Marty Miller was hired by the Yankees in the offseason as director of performance enhancement. He had been with the club only a few months.

“It got to the point where the perception is there’s a problem here,” general manager Brian Cashman said.

The 34-year-old Miller will be replaced on an interim basis by Dana Cavalea, who was Miller’s assistant.

“The knowledge that Marty had was certainly impressive,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “Now, does that mean that because you know a lot about the body, it relates to baseball? That’s what we don’t know.”

The latest injury to New York’s depleted staff came Tuesday night, when Phil Hughes carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his second major league start before a hamstring injury knocked him out of the game against the Texas Rangers. The 20-year-old right-hander, considered one of the top prospects in baseball, is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Hughes was called up from Triple-A Scranton to fill a spot in the team’s injury-ravaged rotation. Mike Mussina (hamstring), Carl Pavano (forearm) and Jeff Karstens (broken right leg) are on the disabled list.

Chien-Ming Wang also missed the first three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury. He is expected to start Saturday after breaking a nail on his pitching hand in his most recent start.

Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon, bothered by a bad back and sore legs much of the season, said Miller introduced conditioning tools that some players weren’t accustomed to using — but also agreed to bring in equipment that players requested.

Still, Damon thought it was unusual that so many pitchers succumbed to hamstring problems, an injury more common for position players.

“I think when you get a number of pitchers go down with the same problem, it opens up eyes and it makes you start thinking there might need to be a change,” Damon said.

The Yankees entered Wednesday night’s game at Texas with a 10-14 record that left them in last place in the AL East. The slow start roused owner George Steinbrenner to issue a statement Monday rebuking the $195 million team for its record but also supporting Cashman and Torre.

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NY Yankees valued at $1.2 billion

NEW YORK (AP) — There’s money in those pinstripes.

The New York Yankees’ value increased 17 percent in the past year to $1.2 billion, Forbes magazine said Thursday in its annual estimates of franchise worth.

The Florida Marlins, given the lowest value at $244 million, had the highest operating income at $43.3 million, according to the magazine.

“As usual, the franchise valuations and operating income numbers are pure fantasy and based on no correct information,” Marlins president David Samson said. “To comment on such irresponsible journalism would only give it more credit than it deserves.”

The magazine defended its article.

“Forbes compiles its annual valuations of Major League Baseball franchises based on information obtained from team executives, sports bankers, public documents, and other sources believed to be reliable,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Wasden said. “We stand by our figures, and the content published.”

Despite the record evaluation for the Yankees, Forbes said they were the only ones to post an operating loss after revenue sharing last year. The magazine estimated the Yankees were $25.2 million in the red on operating revenue of $302 million, after revenue-sharing payments to the commissioner’s office. The Yankees estimate their revenue-sharing bill for 2006 will be about $70 million.

“I am gratified at the Forbes valuation of the Yankees,” New York owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. “We are continuing to build a worldwide brand for the people of New York and Yankee fans everywhere.”

The New York Mets were given the second-highest value ($736 million), followed by the Boston Red Sox ($724 million), the Los Angeles Dodgers ($632 million), the Chicago Cubs ($592 million), World Series champion St. Louis ($460 million), San Francisco ($459 million), Atlanta ($458 million) and Philadelphia ($457 million).

At the other end were Florida ($244 million), Tampa Bay ($267 million), Pittsburgh ($274 million), Kansas City ($282 million), Milwaukee ($287 million), Minnesota ($288 million) and Oakland ($292 million).

Franchise values did not include provisions for television networks owned in whole or part by teams, such as the YES Network (Yankees), NESN (Red Sox) and Comcast SportsNetChicago (Cubs), Forbes associate editor Kurt Badenhausen said.

The Dodgers had the second-highest operating income at $27.5 million, followed by Pittsburgh ($25.3 million), Cleveland ($24.9 million), the Mets ($24.4 million), Colorado ($23.9 million), Cincinnati ($22.4 million), the Cubs ($22.2 million), Seattle ($21.5 million), Milwaukee ($20.8 million) and Tampa ($20.2 million).

Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice president of labor relations, criticized Forbes’ figures last year but declined comment Thursday.

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A-Rod News

MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Rodriguez continued to hit home runs at a historic pace and Andy Pettitte offered six shutout innings as the Yankees defeated the Twins on Tuesday, 10-1.
Rodriguez became the first player in Yankees history to homer six times in the first seven games of a season, as he extended his Major League home run lead in the first inning, reaching Minnesota starter Boof Bonser for a two-run shot.

Rodriguez has homered in four consecutive games, and his six home runs and 17 RBIs lead the Major Leagues. Johnny Damon added a three-run homer, his first of the season, while Melky Cabrera and Jason Giambi contributed run-scoring singles in support of Pettitte.

Pettitte turned in the second quality start in as many nights by a Yankees starter, after New York did not garner one the first time around the rotation. The left-hander limited Minnesota to just four hits in a six-inning, 96-pitch effort, walking one and striking out three.

Derek Jeter scored three times and stole the 250th base of his career in the victory over Bonser, who lasted 4 1/3 innings and surrendered seven runs (six earned) on six hits, walking two — one intentionally — and striking out one.

Minnesota reached reliever Scott Proctor for a run in the seventh inning, as Justin Morneau walked and scored on Jason Kubel’s pinch-hit single. Kevin Thompson stroked a two-run double and Bobby Abreu had an RBI single as Dennys Reyes allowed three runs in the ninth.

The only player to homer more frequently than Rodriguez in the first seven games of a season was the Philadelphia Phillies’ Mike Schmidt, who hit seven home runs to open the 1976 campaign. Aside from Rodriguez, seven other players have homered six times in the first seven games of a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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