About
Every July 1st, the New York Mets drop a bag on former slugger and current AirBNB-hawker Bobby Bonilla, who signed a 5-year, $29 million dollar contract in 1991. That’s not a typo. This contract was signed before Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” was released, and only a few weeks older than Nirvana’s “Nevermind.”
Here’s what happened. “Bobby Bo” had a colorful stint with the Mets and I couldn’t be understating that more. The Mets brass didn’t want to pay him out in the final year of his deal and fans were (justifiably) miffed that he and Ricky Henderson were playing cards in the clubhouse. What the team saved on deferring his final $5.9 million last year they spent to rent ace Mike Hampton for one year. Before every other Mets fan is in my mentions…
- Yes, they went to the World Series.
- Yes, Mike Hampton ultimately became the David Wright pick.
- Yes, I am absolutely defending this contract.
The biggest reason the deal happened in the first place wasn’t even baseball-related. Fred Wilpon was a (the?) main character in Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. The Mets’ owner assumed that if he deferred Bonilla’s salary for ten years at 8% year-over-year, the 10% (suspiciously consistent) returns he was pocketing from Madoff would cover what the Mets owed Bonilla. Win-win right?
You know the rest by now: The most notorious Ponzi scheme in history, one Jason Bay contract, and an Oliver Perez deal, and several lawsuits later, we reached the shelf life of the Wilpon era.
All of this has a happy ending: Fred Wilpon and his son had to sell their stake in the Mets, Bobby Bonilla’s enjoying a revival of sorts with the Mets faithful, and millions of baseball fans get to root for the Bronx native to “home run trot” to the bank every July 1st. Tax free.
We don’t put enough respect on Dennis Gilbert’s name, so let’s give this king the honor he deserves: The guy managed to negotiate two annuities for Bonilla: one from the Mets and one from the Orioles. Legend.