Pewter shows off a few pieces from his Ortiz collection

To step into Jon Pewter’s home in Topeka, Kansas is to gain an understanding of the far-reaching pull of Red Sox nation.

Like many heartlanders, Pewter discovered the Nation during Boston’s World Series run in the fall of 2004 and immediately became enamored with the team’s two biggest stars – sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

To commemorate his newfound fandom, Pewter began turning his basement into a Sox shrine, amassing a collection of Ortiz/Ramirez memorabilia that would make Ben Affleck drool.

There’s the eight autographed bats (six Ramirez and two Ortiz). And the twenty-eight autographed baseballs (an even fourteen-fourteen split between Ramirez and Ortiz). And the six framed autographed jerseys (one home, road, and alternative jersey for both Ramirez and Ortiz, Pewter explains). And the Ramirez autographed batting gloves. And the Ortiz autographed spikes. And the dozens of gem mint, professionally graded Ortiz and Ramirez rookie baseball cards. And the list goes on.

All of this, collected by a man who lives nearly 1,500 miles away from Boston, and has never seen Ortiz or Ramirez play in person.

“It all started with this ‘Papi’ (David Ortiz) jersey,” Pewter said with a chuckle, “I got it for $799.99 from mlb.com right after the Sox won the series in 04’.”

Overall, Pewter estimates he has invested nearly $18,000 in Ramirez and Ortiz memorabilia. It’s value today?

“Take off a few of those zeros, and you’d be in the ballpark,” Pewter said, this time without the chuckle. The value of Pewter’s memorabilia collection is yet another casualty of baseball’s steroid era, which recently expanded to include both Ramirez and Ortiz.

“After I heard about their involvement, I went through the same emotions that every fan has: denial, anger, betrayal,” Pewter said, “but at the end of the day I just felt like I should do something to send a message on behalf of fans everywhere.”

Pewter’s message is coming – in the form of litigation. With the help of attorney Robert Holder, Pewter is organizing a class action lawsuit against Ortiz, Ramirez, and other major leaguers implicated in the steroid scandal.

“Many of the pieces I have, I bought as investments,” Pewter explained, “and I bought them based on the performance of the athletes. Those performances turned out to be artificial.”

As part of the lawsuit, Pewter is hoping he and other fans will receive compensation for the loss of value in their memorabilia collections.

Holder believes that the lawsuit has potential. “Our stance is that these athletes are no different than the CEO who inflates his company’s earnings to make its stock price go up. By using performance enhancing drugs, these ballplayers were able to generate inflated statistics that encouraged fans to buy their memorabilia. The athletes profited. The teams profited. The fans were left holding the bag. We’re going to try to rectify that.”

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Now Mikey has a problem. And he doesn’t like it.

Mikey is part of a growing number of children being targeted by the IRS for failure to pay taxes on the toy prizes found in their cereal boxes. According to longstanding IRS regulations, all prizes and awards must be included in a taxpayer’s income at their fair market value.

While the market value of a foam dinosaur that expands under water may not seem like much, IRS agent Henry Kottinger says that cereal toys are more valuable than people think. “Given the eventual collectability of these items, the IRS stance is that they carry a very high market value. The individuals receiving these toys should be responsible for the taxes,” said Kottinger.

Too young to work and too old to plead ignorance of tax laws, Mikey is now struggling to find ways to pay off his tax debt – which after penalties and interest amounts to $1,857.32. “Daddy says I’m too young to mow grass,” Mikey explained as he played with a white plastic helicopter he recently found in a box of Cap’n Crunch, “but Mommy said she would help me make a Lemonade Stand.”

Mikey enjoys his cereal prizes, but at what cost?

Despite criticism from parents and taxpayer advocacy groups, the IRS remains contrite. “The cereal boxes plainly read ‘prize inside,’” Kottinger said, “Until the cereal manufacturers change their marketing practices, the IRS must continue to enforce the tax law.”

The recent IRS cereal prize crackdown comes on the heels of an FDA announcement that Cheerios is actually a drug masquerading as a breakfast foodstuff. But unlike the FDA crackdown, which is mainly a General Mills problem, the IRS attack is hitting home for thousands of first-time taxpayers.

“I remember the first time Mommy brought home cereal in a box,” Mikey recalls, referencing the fact that his mother used to purchase generic cereal that came in bags and did not contain toys, “it was awesome.”

“Now I wish I never even heard of Cookie Crisp.”

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