Genius!!

If only I had been such a genius !! Loved this story -
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Dodgers Fuming Over Fan's Scheme to Catch Bonds' 700th Home Run

Thursday, September 16, 2004

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are fuming over a man's scheme to try to catch Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball. Investment banker Michael Mahan spent nearly $25,000 buying tickets for two games against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium next month. He figured it was a worthwhile investment, because Bonds' 700th home run ball will fetch a much higher price. But the Giants' slugger has already hit his 699th home run and is likely to reach the milestone any day now. So Mahan is reselling the tickets -- at a considerable profit.

Mahan, 28, originally bought the right-field tickets six months ago at the group-discount rate of $3.50 -- but now he's selling them for $15 each. He has also required every ticket buyer to sign an eight-page contract compelling them to hand over to him any Bonds home run ball they might catch. He would then sell the ball and split the money evenly with the fan who caught it, according to the contract. The only people in the right-field pavilion free of legal constraints at the two games will be Mahan's parents, two sisters and 8-year-old brother. "If one of them gets it, I'm just as happy," Mahan said. "I'm sure they'll want to give it to me."
Mahan said he sold tickets through his Web site at $15 each and said he sold 3,000 tickets to a broker for less than $15 each but declined to disclose the exact price. He donated 400 tickets to charity and said he gave about 300 to family and friends. "I haven't done the numbers. I'm not going to lose money," he said.
The Dodgers have threatened to let fans into the right-field pavilion for free if 20 percent or more of Mahan's seats are unoccupied on the game days. "An individual found a way to manipulate the system, and it won't happen again," Gary Miereanu, the Dodgers' vice president of communications, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.