A New York Mets star and powerful player who was declared not for sale has finally been sold for unresisting currency worth billions of…
The formidable player and star of the New York Mets, who was initially listed as not for sale, was eventually sold for an incredible sum of money—billions.
A large number of baseball fans attach particular meaning to another early July holiday, even if Major League Baseball and July 4 go hand in hand.
That would be July 1st, dubbed “Bobby Bonilla Day.” On this day, the New York Mets give former player Bobby Bonilla, who last participated in an MLB game in October 2001, his yearly deferred fee.
When the Mets dismissed the older player in 1999 and bought out the remaining portion of his contract, Bonilla owed them $5.9 million. Nevertheless, then-Mets owner Fred Wilpon worked out an arrangement with Bonilla’s side rather than giving him the money upfront. From 2011 to 2035, the Mets would give Bonilla payments in installments with yearly interest. According to ESPN, those payments will eventually come to around $30 million, which is far more than what Bonilla was entitled to to.
However, there were a number of benefits for the Mets to use this tactic as well; at least, that’s how it appeared at the time. With a securities investor they were doing business with heavily at the time, the Mets utilized the $5.9 million to form an annuity that would pay them back in annual dividends. By doing this, they also removed that amount from their payroll for the purposes of the MLB bylaws, which allowed them to sign more players without increasing the total cost of the roster, which the league might then be able to tax.
There was only one issue: the investor’s name was Bernie Madoff. In 2009, Madoff was found guilty of orchestrating the biggest Ponzi scheme scam in history and received a 150-year prison term. Put another way, the Mets’ anticipated gains from the Bonilla plan were probably never realized. The Mets, whose business contacts with the dishonest money manager went well beyond their Bonilla agreement, were severely financially impacted by Madoff’s crimes. For the remainder of Wilpon’s ownership run, the Mets suffered financially, and in late 2020, current owner Steve Cohen purchased the franchise.
Fans who want to celebrate the fact that the Mets are paying a now-60-year-old player whose last MLB appearance was almost 22 years ago, nearly $1.2 million on July 1st until 2035, find “Bobby Bonilla Day” to be an ironic anti-holiday given the backdrop of Madoff’s involvement, Wilpon’s struggles in the later years of his ownership, and the general drama on and off the field that the Mets even to this day cannot seem to escape.
Of course, Bonilla is by no means the only player with a significantly delayed contract, as the people at For The Win noted. Large amounts of deferred money payments, nearly two decades into the future, have been a feature of several major MLB contracts signed in recent years. Examples of these contracts are current Mets star Francisco Lindor’s extension and Freddie Freeman’s contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Naturally, these deferments weren’t agreed upon while Bonilla was nearing the end of his career; rather, they were agreed upon when both players were still in their prime.
By all measures, Bonilla was a very good player. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was selected for six All-Star teams and took home three Silver Slugger Awards. Fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates will probably recall Bonilla as one of the top hitters on the teams that consistently made the playoffs in the early 1990s, which also included a young Barry Bonds. He was perhaps one of the main players on the 1997 Miami Marlins team that captured the team’s first World Series championship.
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