Bobby Bonilla and the deal of a lifetime

Most baseball fans look forward to July as the midway point of the MLB season, and a chance to reflect on the players that made it to the All-Star Game. Fans of the New York Mets see the flip of the calendar a little bit differently each year. July brings memories of a former outfielder named Bobby Bonilla, who has an interesting pact with the franchise. Statistics are sourced from Baseball Reference.

Bonilla’s story actually begins in New York, as he was born in the Bronx in 1963. As Ainsworth Sports alludes, he’s one of the best players to come out of the city’s public school system. He was a star for Herbert H. Lehman high school. It seemed clear from a young age that Bonilla would have a chance to become a well-regarded player in Major League Baseball.

At age 23, Bonilla would begin his MLB career with the Chicago White Sox. He suited up in 75 games for the team in 1986, but he wasn’t viewed as part of the franchise’s future. In July of that season, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Jose DeLeon. DeLeon fared well down the stretch for Chicago, pitching to a 2.96 ERA.

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While the White Sox may have gotten the best immediate return, Pittsburgh would win the trade by a landslide. Bonilla became one of the game’s best hitters, and was in the running for National League MVP awards from 1988-1991.

He made four straight All-Star Game appearances, and appeared to be on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

During this period in MLB history, the Mets were on the decline. New York had some strong teams in the late 1980’s, but their main players were aging and their production had decreased.

The big-market franchise hoped to get back in the mix sooner rather than later, and were willing to sign prominent free agents to make that happen.

To that end, New York signed Bonilla to a five-year, $29 million deal, which was the largest in baseball history at the time. However, the agreement was structured in a very unique way. Deferred payments of $1.19 million were finalized, and Bonilla has been receiving that amount of money every July 1 since 2001. The recurring payments are scheduled to end in 2035.

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The lucrative contract set expectations sky-high for Bonilla. His numbers actually weren’t that bad in New York, but fans wanted him to be the face of a franchise that got right back into contention for a World Series title.

That never did happen, and the thought around Bonilla’s tenure as a Met was that it was a failure, as Complex Sports suggests.

Bonilla’s career did not end with the Mets. He was traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 1995. He would find himself on the 1997 Florida Marlins as an important part of their lineup. The team won the World Series that year, allowing Bonilla to experience that elusive team glory.

He would also play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in his career.

To this day, Mets fans are reminded of the seemingly never-ending contract Bonilla signed back in December 1991. New owner Steve Cohen, a lifelong Mets fan himself, has pondered the possibility of celebrating 'Bonilla Day' according to Elite Sports NY.

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For many years, July 1 has been a beacon of embarrassment for the team, but that might soon change.

In December 2023, free agent pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The kicker is that $680 million of it is deferred, according to The Athletic. It may remind fans a lot of the Bonilla deal from the 1990s.

It remains to be seen whether Dodgers fans will bring as much attention to Ohtani's deferred payments as Mets fans do with Bonilla's.

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