A former MLB star who hasn’t worn a New York Mets uniform in 24 years still makes headlines on July 1 every single summer because of a move he agreed to in the 1990s that the Mets are still paying for.
The backstory is awesome.
In the fall of 1991, Bobby Bonilla was a superstar for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the top free agent on the market as he looked for a new team. The Mets were the team that ponied up the cash, offering Bonilla a 5-year, $29 million deal.
Things didn’t work out in New York, and in 1995 the Mets shipped Bonilla off to Baltimore in the final year of his contract. Four years later, he returned to the Big Apple, but the 1999 season was a disaster for him, and he was released when he was still owed $5.9 million in his contract.
And that is how “Bobby Bonilla Day” (July 1) was born.
The Mets were a little cash-strapped, but they had a plan to deal with what they owed Bonilla. Team owner Fred Wilpon had been one of the biggest investors with Ponzi-scheme conman Bernie Madoff, and he expected double-digit returns on that $5.9 million since he had been making a killing with Madoff for years. Hence, the team agreed to pay Bonilla $1.2 million every July 1 from 2011 to 2035. Bonilla would make more than $28 million over a quarter century instead of the $5.9 million immediately.
You can guess what happened to Wilpon’s investment with Madoff. It was gone, vaporized like tens of billions of other investment dollars Madoff was handling. Word is Wilpon lost about $700 million through his relationship with Madoff.
Oh, and here’s the craziest part of this whole story. As good as this deal appears to be for Bonilla, he could have done much better. Had he received the $5.9 million at the time and invested it at 8%, it would have turned into about $52 million now.
The Mets have been good sports about the whole saga, and new owner Steve Cohen (who purchased the team from the Wilpons in 2020) has said publicly that July 1 is his “favorite day of the year.
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