Player Who Left Mets in 1999 Gets $1.19M Every July 1

As Canadians celebrate their national day, it's Bobby Bonilla Day for New York Mets fans. The 62-year-old former player, who last played for the Mets in 1999 and retired in 2001, gets $1.19 million from the team every July 1 in a deal set to continue until 2035, when he will be 72. In recent years, the team has embraced Bobby Bonilla Day. "It's bigger than my birthday," Bonilla tells USA Today. "When that day comes, I get texts all day long, and couple of days after and maybe a day or two before. Everybody just seems to love that day and have fun with it. It's become a pretty big thing."

The deferred-payment deal was forged in 1999, when the Mets wanted to part ways with Bonilla, who still had $5.9 million on his contract. Instead of paying him immediately, then-owner Fred Wilpon reached a deal to defer payments until 2011, with 8% interest, believing putting the money into investments would more than cover the cost of the annual payments. Unfortunately for him, those investments were with Bernie Madoff.

By the time the deal ends, Bonilla will have collected almost $30 million. CNN notes that while Bonilla's deal is probably the most famous, deferred-payment arrangements aren't that unusual in baseball—Shohei Ohtani has decided to defer most of his salary from the Los Angeles Dodgers and will receive $68 million a year from the team from 2034 until 2043.