Former Met fleeces Queens team – again

Former baseball player Bobby Bonilla collected his annual $1.9 million check from the New York Mets on July 1, otherwise known as Bobby Bonilla Day. AP file photo by Osamu Honda

By Jacob Kaye

Former New York Met Bobby Bonilla, who hasn’t played a major league baseball game in well over two decades, collected his annual $1.19 million check from the Queens ballclub Friday.

The annual July 1 payout is begrudgingly known to Mets fans as Bobby Bonilla Day – the day where an arguably ill-advised deferred payment contract comes back to bite the Mets in the behind.

The 59-year-old Bonilla has collected a $1,193,248.20 check every year dating back to 2011, and will continue to do so through 2035.

Bonilla last suited up to play a game in Flushing in 1999. The former All-Star was under performing that season and the Mets, led by former owner Fred Wilpon, looked to cut him loose. There was only one problem – Bonilla was still owed nearly $6 million.

The Wilpon family, however, believed that they were soon going to get a big return on a recent investment and created the deferred payment plan for Bonilla, which will see him bring in nearly $25 million more than what he would have been paid if he had taken the $6 million that remained on his contract upfront.

On its face, the contract was already a bad deal for the Mets. It only got worse when the man heading up the investment, Bernie Madoff, was revealed to have been running a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme, putting the Queens team in a financial hole.

And so Bobby Bonilla Day was born, encapsulating the ineptitude and frequent follies of the management of the New York Mets.

However, that appears to have changed under new owner Steve Cohen, who has taken to embracing Bonilla, who, as a player, frequently sparred with management and the media.

Last year, Bonilla hosted a select number of fans who won an Airbnb stay inside Citi Field on July 1. And on Friday, Cohen indicated on social media that he’s happy to shell out the green to the former player.

“I hope everybody is enjoying my favorite day of the year, Bobby Bonilla Day,” Cohen said on Twitter.