For a lot of MLB players and ex-players, July 1 is a big day. It's the day many signing bonuses and deferred salary payments (or portions thereof) are paid out. It must be fun checking that huge direct deposit each year, huh? Bobby Bonilla, a former All-Star who last played in 2001, has become the face of the July 1 payday.
As part of a deferred salary arrangement, the New York Mets have paid Bonilla a little bit more than $1 million ($1,193,248.20 to be exact) on each July 1 since 2011. The annual payments will continue until 2035. 2035! Bonilla, now 61, will be 72 when the payments end.
The Mets signed Bonilla to a five-year contract worth $29 million in 1991, at the time the richest contract in team sports. He spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of that contract with New York before being traded away. Bonilla won a World Series with the Marlins in 1997 and was later traded back to the Mets as part of Florida's post-championship fire sale.
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The Mets released Bonilla in January 2000 but were still on the hook for his $5.9 million salary that season. Believing they were poised to make a significant profit through their investments with Bernie Madoff, Mets ownership instead agreed to defer Bonilla's salary with 8% interest, and spread the payments across 25 years from 2011-35.
Well, Madoff's Ponzi scheme fell apart, and Bonilla's $5.9 million swelled to $29.8 million from 2000-11. That $29.8 million divided by 25 years equals the annual $1.19 million payment. A few years agoCBS Sports created a bobblehead to commemorate Bonilla's annual deferred payments:
After Mets owner Steve Cohen purchased the franchise in 2020,he suggested the team could have an annual Bobby Bonilla celebration at Citi Field, complete with a novelty oversized check. That plan has not yet come to fruition, and the Mets are on the road against the Nationals on July 1 this year.
Bonilla's deferred salary with the Mets is the most famous July 1 payment in baseball, hands down, but it is not the only July 1 payment in the game. In fact, Bonilla has a second deferred salary agreement with the Baltimore Orioles, who still owe him $500,000 a year from 2004-28. July 1 is a good day in the Bonilla household.
Here are a few other notable deferred salary payment plans:
The Cincinnati Redshave paid Ken Griffey Jr. roughly $3.6 million each year since 2009. He is receiving his final payment in 2024.
The Boston Red Sox have paid Manny Ramirez approximately $2 million each year since 2011 and will continue to do so through 2026.
The St. Louis Cardinals began paying Matt Hollidayhis deferred salary in 2020. He gets $1.5 million a year until 2029.
Beginning last year in 2023, the Orioles will pay Chris Davis $3.5 million annually through 2032. He then gets $1.7 million a year from 2033-37.
The Mets have paid Bret Saberhagen $250,000 each year since 2004 and will continue to do so through 2028.
The Red Sox will pay Rafael Devers $7.5 million annually from 2034 to 2043, thanks to his 11-year, $331 million contract that included a $75 million deferment.
Shohei Ohtani's record-setting $700 million deal with the Dodgers came with heavy deferments. Ohtani is set to make just $2 million per season during the 10-year contract. The other $680 million will be paid between 2034 and 2043.
The Washington Nationals tend to load their largest contracts with salary deferrals. They're paying Rafael Soriano roughly $2 million annually through 2024.Max Scherzer, who now pitches for the Texas Rangers, is owed $15 million a year from 2022-28. Not bad work if you can get it.
Why? Because the Mets deferred the $5.9 million he was supposed to make in 2000 when he was released that January and never even played -- stretching it out 24 years with 8% interest. That means $5.9 million will be $29.8 million.
Believing they were poised to make a significant profit through their investments with Bernie Madoff, Mets ownership instead agreed to defer Bonilla's salary with 8% interest, and spread the payments across 25 years from 2011-35.
July 1 is an anniversary of sorts for the Mets. It's Bobby Bonilla Day, of course. Bonilla will receive another $1.19 million from the organization as part of a contract agreement made between the player and the Mets back in 2000.
In 1980 Nolan Ryan became the first million dollar player when he signed a four-year free agent contract with the Houston Astros for one million dollars per season. The salary quadrupled what he had been making with the Angels. Ryan is the only pitcher on the milestone list.
Bonilla was one of MLB's best batters and overall top players in the late 1980s and early 1990s with powerful hitting strength, as well as a part of the highly successful and pennant contending Pittsburgh Pirates organization around the same time.
Bonilla played professionally from 1986 to 2001, including two stints with the Mets -- 1992 to 1995, and then again in 1999. A two-time All-Star with the club, he left before the 2000 season, with the team still owing him millions of dollars.
Pittsburgh Pirates fans likely remember Bonilla as one of the best hitters on the perennial early 90s playoff-contending teams that also featured a young Barry Bonds. Miami Marlins fans likely remember him as a key part of the team that won the franchise's first World Series title in 1997.
The New York Mets continue to pay former two-time Cy Young winner Bret Saberhagen, who retired in 2001, to the tune of $250,000 per year. Saberhagen pitched for the Mets from 1992-1995 and will collect his annual salary until 2029.
But New York Mets fans know it by a different name -- Bobby Bonilla Day. Each year on the first of July, the former Met collects a paycheck of just under $1.2 million -- $1,193,248.20 to be exact -- until 2035. Why?
In order to clear what was left of his $29 million salary off the books, the Mets, led by then-owner Fred Wilpon, worked with Bonilla's agent and bought out the remaining $5.9 million under the stipulation that it would be spread evenly and paid off with 8 percent interest from 2011-2035.
Ex-MLB pitcher Jonathan Papelbon dissed the Mets on social media, claiming that the team's resurgence won't last in the second half of the season. The former Red Sox closer replied to a question posted by Barstool's Dave Portnoy on X: “What is the Mets situation?”
Bonilla and Griffey both live in Florida, which does not have a state income tax. The Mets are not the only MLB team still cutting Bonilla a check. He also still receives a deferred salary from his tenure with the Baltimore Orioles worth $500,000 each year between 2004 and 2028.
and the Cincinnati Reds have reason to celebrate today, as well. The last payment of a similar deferral of $57.5M over 16 years comes to an end with a check for $3,593,750. 54-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. receives his final $3,593,750 payment from the #Reds today stemming from a 16 year, $57.5M deferral agreement.
Granted free agency (October 28, 1991). Granted free agency (November 18, 1996). Traded by Los Angeles Dodgers to New York Mets in exchange for Mel Rojas (November 11, 1998).
Introduction: My name is Greg Kuvalis, I am a witty, spotless, beautiful, charming, delightful, thankful, beautiful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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