Bobby Bonilla hasn’t worked for 20 years and is still getting paid.
What We Know:
- Bonilla retired from Major League Baseball in 2001, and 20 years later, the 58-year-old is still banking $1.19 million every July 1, referred to by some fans as “Bobby Bonilla Day.” His contract with the New York Mets calls for him to receive $1,193,248.20 each year until 2035, when he will be 72 years old. That’s more than some of baseball’s young stars will make in a year.
- According to ESPN, the Mets agreed in 2000 to buy out Bonilla’s contract, negotiating to pay the remaining $5.9 million in annual installments of nearly $1.2 million, including 8% interest, for 25 years starting July 1, 2011.
- When Bonilla signed his five-year, $29 million contract with the Mets in 1991, he became the highest-paid National League player at the time. He last played for the team in 1999.
- He last played in the majors in 2001, when he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Plagued by injuries, he played his final game in October 2001.
- Bonilla is not the only player in the MLB with an arrangement like this. Manny Ramirez, a former Boston Red Sox player, is set to be paid through 2026 thanks to deferred money in a contract he signed years ago. Similar to the Mets, Boston’s contract kicked in in 2011 and runs 18 years after the team traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. When it is all said and done, they will have paid him $32 million over 16 years.
Every July 1st is “Bobby Bonilla Day.”
