For 16 seasons, Bobby Bonilla put up excellent numbers in the majors. The utility man put up a strong 124 OPS+ over that period, making six All-Star games and finishing in the top three in MVP voting twice.
But for all his accomplishments as a player, Bonilla is far more remembered for what came after.
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In baseball circles, July 1 is recognized as Bobby Bonilla Day. On that day, baseball fans in the know celebrate one extremely smart decision by Bonilla and his agent when he was a member of the New York Mets.
Bobby Bonilla Day explained
Bonilla is celebrated every July 1 because that’s the day the Mets have to pay him $1.2 million. Bonilla hasn’t played in the majors since 2001, but he receives yearly checks from the Mets after agreeing to a deferred deal with the team in 2000.
As a result, Bonilla will be paid $1.2 million by the Mets every year until 2035, when he’ll be 72 years old.
Bobby Bonilla Mets contract
Bonilla initially signed a five-year, $29 million contract with the Mets ahead of the 1992 MLB season, but that’s not the contract that led to Bobby Bonilla Day. After spending three-and-a-half seasons with the Mets, Bonilla was traded away.
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After spending time with the Baltimore Orioles, Bonilla signed a four-year, $23.3 million contract with the Miami Marlins in 1997. That’s the deal that eventually resulted in Bobby Bonilla Day.
While the Marlins handed Bonilla that contract, the team never intended to pay it all out. After helping the team win a World Series in 1997, Bonilla was traded away the following year in the team’s infamous fire sale. He spent a half season with the Los Angeles Dodgers before he was traded back to the Mets for the 1999 MLB season.
Bonilla struggled that season, hitting just .160 over 141 plate appearances. At the end of the year, the Mets told Bonilla he was going to be released. But Bonilla still had $5.9 million remaining on his contract.
Instead of paying out that $5.9 million to Bonilla immediately, the team wanted to defer payments on the deal, believing it could make more profit through investments with Bernie Madoff. As a result, the Mets agreed to pay Bonilla $1,193,248.20 every year, with those payments starting in 2011 and going until 2035.
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The Madoff investment turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, one that turned out to be highly embarrassing for former Mets owner Jeff Wilpon.
As a result, that initial $5.9 million Bonilla was owed has swelled to $29.8 million. Not a bad deal for a player who hasn’t taken a major-league at-bat since 2001.
Do the Mets celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day?
Under Wilpon’s ownership, the Mets didn’t exactly broadcast the fact that they needed to pay a former player nearly $1.2 million every season due to a bad investment by the team’s owner.
That changed after Steve Cohen purchased the team in 2020. The Mets don’t hold a ceremony or celebration in honor of Bonilla, but Cohen has acknowledged the unofficial baseball holiday on social media, calling it his “favorite day of the year.”
Cohen assumed those payments after taking ownership of the Mets, and it’s nice to see he has a good sense of humor about the whole thing.
MLB deferred contracts
Bonilla is far from the only MLB player to receive deferred money from a team. The practice has become more popular over the years. The Washington Nationals made a habit of signing players to deferred deals during their contention window between 2012 and 2019.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay deferred money to Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts long after they are done playing, though the team’s most famous deferred deal is the 10-year, $700 million deal signed by Shohei Ohtani. That deal contains a staggering $680 million in deferred money.
There’s evidence that Bonilla’s deal wasn’t even the first time an MLB team issued deferred payments to a player. Catfish Hunter, Sparky Lyle, Bruce Sutter and Jim Rice were among the players who reportedly received deferred money from teams prior to Bonilla’s buyout agreement with the Mets.
Bonilla’s agreement with the Mets isn’t his only deferred payment from an MLB team. He also receives $500,000 from the Orioles every year. Those payments started in 2004 and were set to end 25 years later.
Bobby Bonilla stats
It’s easy to forget, but Bonilla was a pretty excellent player over his MLB career. The utility man — who saw time at first base, third base and in the outfield — hit .279/.358/.472 over 16 seasons in the majors. That figure resulted in a 124 OPS+ for Bonilla, meaning he was 24 percent better than the average major-league hitter during his era.
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During his peak, Bonilla was among the best hitters in the game. From 1988 through 1991, Bonilla hit .284/.359/.495, with 98 home runs, in four seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made the All-Star team each season during that stretch, finishing second in the NL MVP voting in 1990 and third in voting in 1991.
His contract might get all the attention, but Bonilla was a pretty excellent player during his era.
