NICK EICHER, HOST: The New York Mets are paying a six-time all-star $1.2 million this year. That’s a lot of money to you and me.
But if you know anything about Major League Baseball salaries these days, you know that’s a bargain for a star player.
That is, until you consider that the player in question hasn’t played for the Mets in two decades!
The team released third baseman and outfielder Bobby Bonilla in 1999, while they still owed him about $6 million on his contract.
Problem was, the Mets needed to free up that cash in order to sign more talent. So Bonilla’s agent brokered an extraordinary deal.
The Mets would pay the money in installments over twenty-five years and with interest. It comes to $1.2 million every year. And they’ll keep paying him until he turns 72!
July 1st is when they cut that check every year, and it’s not a happy day for fans. So on Monday, New York fans marked what they now derisively call “Bobby Bonilla day.”
It’s The World and Everything in It.
