Each July 1 marks a special occasion for New York Mets fans, often referred to as Bobby Bonilla Day. Although Bobby Bonilla has been out of professional baseball for 24 years since his retirement with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001, he continues to receive a substantial annual salary from the Mets—nearly $1.2 million each year.
Bonilla’s contract, originally negotiated by his agent Dennis Gilbert, ensures that he will receive $1,193,248.20 annually until 2035, which means Bonilla will be 72 when his agreement with the team concludes. This remarkable arrangement stems from a complicated financial situation involving former Mets owner Fred Wilpon and disgraced financier Bernie Madoff.
Following the 1999 season, the Mets were faced with the dilemma of Bonilla’s remaining $6 million contract. Wilpon, mistakenly trusting Madoff’s fraudulent investment practices, chose to defer Bonilla’s payments instead of paying him outright. The payments were structured to begin in 2011 with an 8% annual interest rate due to Gilbert’s negotiations. Ultimately, Bonilla is set to collect a total of $29.8 million as a result of this unusual contract setup.
Deferred payment schemes are not uncommon in Major League Baseball (MLB). Recently, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani agreed to defer a significant portion of his record-breaking 10-year, $700 million contract, allowing him to be paid $2 million annually while deferring the remaining amount until 2034. Other players such as Blake Snell and Tommy Edman have similarly opted for deferred payments.
The tradition of deferred payments has a long history in professional sports, starting with “The Dolgoff Plan” in the 1960s, which helped teams attract talent by offering long-term financial security. Bobby Bonilla’s case might be one of the most well-known examples, but it is clear that he is neither the first nor the last player to benefit from such arrangements in the world of baseball.
This story of deferred payments brings an interesting perspective on the financial strategies used in sports and highlights how creative contract negotiations can lead to lucrative outcomes for players, even long after their playing days are over.