Philly Front Office

Bobby Bonilla Day is one of those rare events that is not only ubiquitous in the baseball world despite its lack of consequence but also universally beloved. It’s the “69…nice” of contracts. While we all know the Mets are still paying him for another decade, did you know the Mets are not the only team paying him? Hell, they weren’t even the first. Bonilla isn’t even the only player the Mets did this with! Let’s get into the holiday spirit, shall we? It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

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Humble Beginnings

The 1991 season was probably Bobby Bonilla’s best with the Pirates. He had just finished his 4th straight great season and finished Top 3 for NL MVP for the second consecutive year. As a free agent, he wanted to get paid. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh and its fans, that is not something the Pirates do. The Mets and their owner Fred Wilpon had that Bernie Madoff money burning a hole in their pocket though and signed him to a record-breaking 5/$29m contract. Most people assume that Bobby Bonilla Day originates from this deal. While this is technically true, this is not why everyone celebrates. We’ll get to that.

Bonilla had a dud first season in Queens, but a solid next two despite the Mets team woes. 1995 was going great for him individually, but the struggling Mets dealt him to Baltimore at the trade deadline and he would play out the rest of that contract with the Orioles.

After the 1996 season, Bonilla signed with the splurging Marlins just before Christmas for 4/$23.3m. He would win a World Series in Miami, but just like any good Marlin would be traded the following season, this time to the Dodgers. At the end of that season, now 1998, the Mets would bring him back. This is where the tale we all know and love begins.

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Mets Gonna Mets

Bonilla’s return to Queens was 180 degrees from his first tenure. This time, it was the team that was good and the player who struggled. His season ended against the Braves (again) in the NLCS, but instead of being on the field with his teammates, Bonilla was back in the clubhouse playing cards as the 11th and final inning ended. Needless to say, the Mets didn’t want to keep him around anymore.

The Mets could have just released Bonilla and been on the hook for his remaining $5.9m salary. That isn’t what the team wanted to do though. After all, that Madoff money was coming back to them at 10% returns like clockwork. Why pay it all now when you can pay it later? That’s the deal Bonilla’s agent offered to the Mets. The payments would be deferred for 11 years then paid at 8% interest over the next 25 seasons. 10% is better than 8% right Fred Wilpon? At that rate, Bonilla would be paid $1.19m per season, totaling $29.8m.

Of course, Madoff Money doesn’t last forever, and the train ran out of coal in 2008. The Mets still owed Bonilla though. All of a sudden, 8% interest wasn’t the deal it was cracked up to be. The payments started in 2011 and will continue until 2035. Now boys and girls throughout the land celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day on July 1 as a day to laugh at the Mets for continuing to have to write that $1.19m check to Bobby Bo for doing absolutely nothing. His last game in Major League Baseball was played on October 7th, 2001.

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Deferral History

While Bobby Bonilla’s buyout deal with the Mets is the most famous long term contract disaster, it is not the only one and certainly not the first. In fact, Bonilla himself pulled off the same trick with the Orioles back in 1996 with the Orioles. I’m not completely sure on these details, but it seems Baltimore either agreed to defer his 1996 salary or they bought him out of a future option on his contract. Either way, Bonilla and the team agreed to defer a few million dollars until 2004, then pay the sum with interest over 25 years. Every year until 2028, On July 1, the Orioles pay Bobby Bo $500,000, totaling $12.5m. So that’s where his agent got the idea with the Mets, right?

Not so fast. In 1991, the Mets traded for Royals ace Bret Saberhagen. In 1993, Saberhagen and the Mets negotiated a contract extension that would pay him $15m over the next 3 seasons. The contract also provided another $6.25m in deferred payments to be paid as $250,000 per year over 25 years beginning in 2004. That’s right, each year, on July 1, the Mets are also still paying Bret Saberhagen. The Mets traded him in 1995 and he hasn’t played in the Majors since 2001. So it was the Mets who gave Bobby Bonilla’s agent the idea to fleece the Mets.

Saberhagen wasn’t the first though and not even Bonilla is the most famous. Back in 1974, Catfish Hunter signed a $100k contract with the A’s. Instead of a standard $100k though, he took $50k in salary and $50k in an annuity. However, notoriously cheap owner Charlie O. Finley not only didn’t fund the annuity, but he fought with Hunter over it. The MLB Player’s Union was in its infancy at the time though and still didn’t have free agency thanks to the Reserve Clause. Union President Marvin Miller used Finley’s folly to claim that the A’s breached Hunter’s contract and that he should be a free agent. The Union won, chiseled a big chunk out of the Reserve Clause, and Hunter would become the first true free agent in MLB History. His next contract with the Braves would also have deferred money that Ted Turner was happy to pay.

The first known deferred payment though goes back to 1954. Ted Williams had been married but was now on the outs with his wife Doris. A divorce was planned, but it took a while to finalize. Ted actually held out of the 1955 season claiming that he was retiring in an attempt to not pay Doris too much in alimony. The year prior though, he signed for $150k but had the Red Sox pay $50k of that down the line in order to hide assets. Teddy Ballgame was a hell of a ballplayer and person, but not exactly the best family man.

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Other Famous Deferrals

• Manny Ramirez – his 8/$160m contract with the Red Sox signed in 2001 came with $32m in deferred money. Manny gets his last $2m check this season.
• Ilya Bryzgalov – After trading for the goaltender on the wildest day in team history, the Flyers signed The Bryz to a 9/$51m contract. He was terrible immediately and was released 2 years later. The remaining 7 years were stretched all the way to 2026. Bryzgalov will finally be off the Flyers’ books next season.
• Rick DiPietro – The #1 pick in the 2000 NHL Draft signed a 15/$67.5m contract with the Islanders in 2006. He was so injured and so bad though that they bought him out in 2013. The buyout pays him $1.5m over 16 years, ending in 2009
• Shohei Ohtani – In 2024. Ohtani signed an eye searing 10/$700m contract. People were floored but figured if anyone was worth it, it was Ohtani. Then the terms came out. $680m of that was deferred for 20 years! Beginning in 2034, the Dodgers will begin paying Ohtani $68m per season.
• Allen Iverson – In 2001, Allen Iverson signed a 10/$50m deal with Adidas. That wasn’t the fill financial terms though. His agent was able to get a trust fund that would pay out an additional $32m on Iverson’s 55th birthday AND an annuity that would pay $800k per year for the rest of his life. Considering AI’s financial problems since his basketball days ended, this was incredibly prescient.

Sources: Baseball Reference, Spotrac, Lords of the Realm, and The Kid

Photo: OSAMU HONDA/Associated Press