NEW YORK (WPIX) — The rent is due in Flushing on Tuesday, and Bobby Bonilla is coming to collect.
July 1 is famously dubbed Bobby Bonilla Day in the baseball community. This is the day when the former New York Mets player receives approximately $1.19 million from the team. This annual payment to Bonilla started in 2011 and is set to continue until 2035.
But how is Bonilla, a six-time All-Star who hasn’t played since 2001, still receiving such large payments? Let’s explain.
Bonilla’s history in New York
Bonilla’s legendary period with New York kicked off when he inked a five-year, $29 million contract with the Mets during the 1991 offseason, after enjoying four consecutive All-Star appearances and securing two top-three finishes for the National League Most Valuable Player while with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As the spotlight figure of a high-expenditure offseason for the Mets, Bonilla was joined by other big signings, including eight-time All-Star Eddie Murray and six-time All-Star, former New York Yankee Willie Randolph. Additionally, a trade brought in pitcher Bret Saberhagen from the Kansas City Royals, leading to the Mets having the largest payroll in Major League Baseball going into the 1992 season.
Reality did not meet expectations in ’92 as New York finished with a 72-90 record, good for fifth in the NL East. Bonilla also had his worst statistical season since his breakout 1987 season in Pittsburgh.
In 1995, Bonilla was traded to the Baltimore Orioles as the Mets stared down their fourth consecutive losing season since signing the slugger to his contract. He returned to play with the Mets in 1999, but was cut in the offseason with $5.9 million remaining on his deal.
How Bobby Bonilla Day came to be
Instead of paying out the sum right away, former Mets owner Fred Wilpon worked out a deal to spread the contract out annually starting in 2011 with 8 percent interest until 2035. So, rather than handing Bonilla a one-time check of $5.9 million, he will compound nearly $30 million when the last payment is made.
Reports by ESPN years later revealed Wilpon was deeply intertwined with Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme at the time of reworking Bonilla’s contract, which allowed him and former Mets owner Saul Katz to invest more in Madoff.
The deal was mocked and despised by the Mets fans for years, but it took a turn for the better when Steve Cohen bought the team from the Wilpons and Katz’s in 2020.
The next year, Cohen and the organization announced a Bobby Bonilla Day promotion that involved a stay at an Airbnb hosted by Bonilla, access to Mets training facilities, and a chance to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
How much has Bonilla earned — and how much does he have left?
Remember how the Mets owed Bonilla just $5.9 million when he was cut from the team?
Since he started receiving payments in 2011, and including this year’s payment, Bonilla has received $16.7 million — nearly three times what he was owed more than three decades ago.
And he isn’t done yet. The deal runs through 2035.
Until then, Bonilla will receive another $13.1 million, giving way to a lump-sum payout of more than $29.8 million.
When the final check is cut by the Mets and Bobby Bonilla Day is retired, we’ll likely get to experience another deferred payment holiday: Shohei Ohtani Day.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way megastar signed a record-setting deal in 2023 that will pay him $20 million through 2033. Then, from 2034 through 2043, Ohtani is set to receive a whopping $680 million, amounting to $68 million a year.
In case you’ve gotten lost in the numbers, Ohtani’s deferred payments, each, amount to more than double what Bonilla is receiving.
But until then, July 1 remains Bonilla’s day.
