Bobby Bonilla

July 1 marks the day in which Bonilla receives $1.19 million annually, but he's not the only athlete with a deal like that.

In addition, Davis will receive $1.4 million a year from 2033 to 2037 and will be 51 by the time the payments are satisfied. As a part of the contract, Davis will receive $3.5 million annually in deferred payments from 2023 to 2032. As part of his contract with the Mets, Saberhagen will receive $250,000 per year in deferred payments from 2005 until 2029. As a part of that contract, Scherzer is slated to receive deferred payments totaling $15 million from 2022 to 2028. In 2015, the Washington Nationals signed ace Max Scherzer to a seven-year, $210 million contract in free agency. The Colorado Rockies signed slugger Todd Helton to a two-year contract extension towards the end of his career in 2010. The deal started in 1991, when the Mets signed Bonilla to a five-year deal that was worth $29 million, which was the richest contract in professional sports at the time. The star slugger did help bring a World Series title to the Red Sox in 2004, so perhaps the deal was worth it for Boston Beginning in 2020, Holliday began receiving an annual payment of $1.5 million and will receive payments until 2029. Griffey's tenure with the Reds was riddled with injuries and never lived up to the success that he had with the Mariners. Back in 2000, the Reds acquired slugger Ken Griffey Jr. in a trade with the Seattle Mariners and quickly signed him to a nine-year, $112.5 million deal. Of Course, Madoff's ponzi scheme didn't exactly work out in the Mets' favor and the deferred payments ended up totaling $29.8 million.

For so many, July 1 represents the true start of the heart of summer. For Bobby Bonilla, it represents a massive payday. Bonilla hasn't played an MLB game ...

He is part of one of the greatest contracts in sports. New York still was on the hook for $5.9 million. And it’s a fun day because it always brings a smile to my face. But he's still on the New York Mets' payroll. So much so that New York opted to buy out Bonilla's contract in 2000. For Bobby Bonilla, it represents a massive payday.

Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Alex Cobb, Christian Yelich and more.

(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) That date has become the time when everyone LOLMETS on Twitter, but here’s the thing: Plenty of other players have gotten deferred money on their contracts and continue to do so. (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)

It may not surprise you that Bobby Bonilla enjoys July 1 — otherwise known in the baseball world as “Bobby Bonilla Day.”

He said that he “loves being a Dad” to his 16-year-old son, who is an avid golfer. I love what he did.’ That brings a smile to my face. “… Everywhere I go, I hear: ‘He was a part of one of the greatest contracts in sports. It always brings a smile to my face.” It makes sense that Bonilla enjoys the day; he is the primary beneficiary, after all. For the 12th consecutive year, Bonilla received roughly $1.19 million from the Mets in deferred money.

Bonilla retired from MLB more than two decades ago, yet still gets paid a salary more than many players.

When Bonilla signed with the Mets, he had his salary deferred into annual payments from 2011 through 2035. Bonilla was a six-time MLB All-Star and won a World Series with the Marlins in 1997. Although the Mets are under new ownership, the club continues to pay Bonilla.

Working to free up payroll space for the 2000 season, the Mets made made a deal with Bobby Bonilla.

("I've got a son that's working on his master's, and my other son's on the dean's list ... so I guess the school system worked out all right," Hampton joked 20 years later.) The lefty won 15 games with a 3.14 ERA in 2000 and was named NLCS MVP as the Mets reached the World Series for the first time in 14 years, falling to the rival Yankees in five games. Coming off a trip to the NLCS in 1999, New York had World Series hopes – and $5.9 million was a sizable salary back then, with the league's median payrolls in the $50-60 million range.

Who is Bobby Bonilla? To Gen Xers and older millennials, he formed one half of “Bobby Bo and Barry Bo” with Barry Bonds on the Pittsburgh Pirates of the 1980s.

With that in mind, Mets ownership reportedly believed deferring Bonilla’s contract was the more financially viable option for the team at the time. While it’s perhaps the most famous, Bonilla’s deal isn’t the only lopsided deal in sports history. In 2000, after Bonilla was traded back to the Mets, they elected to buy Bonilla out of the remainder of his contract rather than keep him as a player. He underperformed as a Met, and was traded before the contract expired. To fans of sports business, he’s the best dealmaker of all time, the GOAT of contract negotiations. “It's just such an anomaly in sports, it just can't help but be noticed.

Every July 1 from 2011-2035, the New York Mets dole out $1.19 million to Bobby Bonilla, who hasn't played for them since 1999.

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Bonilla hasn't played in the majors since 2001, but every July 1 since 2011, the Mets have cut him a check on a day that's come to be celebrated by fans and ...

Now, every July 1 until 2035, Bonilla will get check for $1,193,248.20 from the Mets. Those payments, which began in 2004, provide $500,000 a year for 25 years. Former team owners Saul Katz and Fred Wilpon had been heavily involved in Bernie Madoff’s investment schemes for years, earning 10 to 14 percent returns annually through the late Wall Street financier, who orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Under Bonilla’s proposal, they could take the $5.9 million that wouldn’t be paid to Bonilla and invest it with Madoff. They anticipated a $60 million-70 million profit off the arrangement, earning far more than the $29.8 million they eventually would have to pay Bonilla over 25 installments. The contract dates back to the 1999 season, when the then-36-year-old Bonilla was struggling on the diamond and often clashing with manager Bobby Valentine. The Mets wanted to cut him but he was still owed the $5.9 million left on his contract, so Bonilla and his agent offered team executives a deal: He would go quietly if the Mets deferred his salary for 12 years, at an 8 percent annual interest rate, and paid it off over 25 years starting in 2011. Of all the obscure holidays on the sports calendar, perhaps the most important to sports fans is July 1 — a.k.a. Bobby Bonilla Day — an occasion to observe the annual custom when the six-time all-star gets paid.

Each year on July 1, the New York Mets must send a $1.2 million check to an All Star player named Bobby Bonilla. The strange thing is: Bonilla hasn't played ...

The five-year, $29 million deal Bonilla inked with the Mets in 1991 is widely considered one of the worst contracts in MLB history from a team perspective. So ...

He is part of one of the greatest contracts in sports. New York still was on the hook for $5.9 million. And it’s a fun day because it always brings a smile to my face. But he's still on the New York Mets' payroll. So much so that New York opted to buy out Bonilla's contract in 2000. For Bobby Bonilla, it represents a massive payday.