Getting to the Big Leagues is the dream of most baseball players.
The next best thing is getting paid a million bucks a year by a pro team even if you're not playing for them.
That's the deal enjoyed by Bobby Bonilla, the onetime-third baseman for the New York Mets who still collects a $1.1 million paycheck from the team every July 1, even though he last stepped up to the plate for them in 1999.
Here's why:
The Mets in 1991 signed Bonilla to a then-record five-year, $29 million deal. Bonilla was a standout prospect, but his performance for the Mets was unfortunately more middle-of-the-road than expected. After four years the team traded him to the Baltimore Orioles.
He returned to the Mets in 1999 but was released shortly thereafter with the Mets still owing him a princely $5.9 million. Now, it would seem like the smart thing to do would've been to cut the guy a fat $5.9 million check and wish him well.
But they didn't. Instead they negotiated an annualized payout schedule from 2011 to 2035 at a whopping 8% interest. And the reason is almost laughable:
[W]hy did the Mets decide to pony up close to $30 million over the long haul instead of simply handing over the $5.9 million? Well, then-owner Fred Wilpon had invested with Ponzi-scheme artist Bernie Madoff and expected double-digit returns on the deal, which did not happen and Wilpon wound up with the short end of the stick.
Hard to imagine a more humiliating blunder than, "I've got a good thing going with this Madoff guy, let's go with that instead."
It certainly worked out for Bonilla, though. Every July 1 he suddenly finds he has another 1.1 million smackers in his bank account. That's more than enough to throw a decent July 4 barbecue, with some left over.
