The Mets Are Still Paying Bobby Bonilla Every July 1 Until 2035 Because of Bernie Madoff

On January 3, 2000, the New York Mets bought out the final year of Bobby Bonilla's contract. He was 37, his bat was gone, and the team owed him $5.9 million. The simplest version of this story ends there.

The Deferral Bonilla's agent, Dennis Gilbert, talked the Mets into instead

Rather than write the check, the Mets agreed to defer the $5.9 million at 8% interest, with no payments until 2011. Starting July 1, 2011, Bonilla would receive $1,193,248.20 every July 1 through 2035. Total nominal payout: about $29.8 million for a player who would never appear in another Mets game.

Owner Fred Wilpon signed off because his money was sitting with a financial advisor who was, on paper, returning a steady 10-12% a year. The advisor's name was Bernie Madoff.

What Madoff Was Actually Doing

In December 2008, Madoff confessed his investment business was a Ponzi scheme - the largest in U.S. history, with paper losses of roughly $65 billion. The Wilpon family's exposure was severe enough that the Madoff bankruptcy trustee, Irving Picard, sued the Wilpons and their partners for $1 billion in 2010, alleging they should have known. The Mets owners eventually settled for $162 million in 2012.

The Receipts

The contract is not a rumor. Bonilla's agent has discussed it on the record. ESPN, the Associated Press, and The New York Times have all published the schedule: 25 annual payments of $1,193,248.20, due every July 1 from 2011 to 2035, when Bonilla will be 72 years old. Baseball fans now mark the date as "Bobby Bonilla Day," an unofficial holiday celebrating a man who is paid more annually than several active major-league players for not playing.

Why It Matters

Steve Cohen bought the Mets from the Wilpons in 2020 for $2.4 billion. He inherited the Bonilla obligation. Every July 1 for the next decade, the richest owner in baseball will sign a check made out to a player who has not swung a bat for the franchise in a quarter century, because his predecessor trusted the wrong friend with the savings.