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Bobby Bonilla has not played a single Major League Baseball game in more than two decades. Yet the former third baseman still gets paid $1.19 million every June 1 by the New York Mets (whom he actually left two years before retiring).
The 59-year-old Bonilla will keep receiving that payment until 2035, when he’s 72. So Goldin Auctions is now selling the original contract Bonilla signed, and the lucky winner will get more than only the paperwork — just not the money.
“Following his release from the New York Mets in 1999, he and his agent Dennis Gilbert worked out a deferral of his $5.9 salary that was still owed to him, where starting in 2011 he would be annually paid $1.19 million every July 1 until 2035,” reads the contract description. “As such, ‘Bobby Bonilla Day’ was born.”
The auction winner will get their own personal “Bobby Bonilla Day” along with the original signed 6-page “Deferred Compensation Agreement” as well. Some time later this year, that individual gets to enjoy a full day of one-on-one time with Bobby Bo. Their schedule includes breakfast, a Mets home game at Citi Field, and dinner.
Additionally, the winner will also receive:
- A 30-minute Zoom call with Bobby Bonilla
- A 30-minute Zoom call with Dennis Gilbert (the agent who brokered Bonilla’s deferment deal)
- A signed baseball from Bobby Bonilla’s personal collection
- A game-used bat from Bobby Bonilla’s personal collection
- The 1/1 Bobby Bonilla Contract NFT
Watch the video below to understand FiveThirtyEight called Bobby Bo “more than the patron saint of bad contracts.” And place your bids on the “1991 Bobby Bonilla New York Mets Infamous Bobby Bonilla Day 1.2mm Annual Contract” and the Bobby Bonilla Experience by clicking here.
Bobby Bonilla’s Infamous Contract Is Up For Auction With A Chance To Meet The Mets Slugger was originally published on cassiuslife.com
