Canadians celebrate their national day on July 1st and many Quebecers move house. In Major League Baseball, the now famous “Bobby Bonilla Day” is celebrated instead.
Saturday marks the 13th anniversary of the New York Mets offering Bobby Bonilla compensation for the strangest contract in history.
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In 2000, the Big Apple team fired the third baseman but still owed him $5.9 million. Bonilla’s agent Dennis Gilbert, in a stroke of genius, managed to negotiate that he wasn’t offered the money until 2011, albeit with an annual interest rate of 8%.
Thus, on July 1, the 60-year-old, like everyone else, will receive a salary of $1,193,248 and 20 cents from 2011 to 2034. Keep in mind that he hasn’t played in Major League Baseball since 2001, but he’s always paid by the Mets until he’s 73 years old.
“I talk to Bobby regularly,” Gilbert told USA Today Sports on Friday. I think of him especially on Father’s Day because he is the father of all deferred contracts.
The Mets can at least take solace in knowing they’re halfway through this disastrous deal. $5.9 million has turned into $30 million and the baseball world never misses an opportunity to remind them.
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