© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Baseball player Bobby Bonilla retired in 2001. Why is he still getting more than $1M per year from the Mets?

New York Mets Bobby Bonilla busts out of his hitting slump with this swing, to give him a grand slam against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning, June 1, 1992 at New York's Shea Stadium. (Osamu Honda/AP)
Osamu Honda/AP
New York Mets Bobby Bonilla busts out of his hitting slump with this swing, to give him a grand slam against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning, June 1, 1992 at New York's Shea Stadium. (Osamu Honda/AP)

Every July 1, former Major League Baseball star Bobby Bonilla collects a $1.19-million check from his former team, the New York Mets. It’s more money than some of baseball’s current stars will make in a year, and Bonilla will continue getting the annual payments until 2035.

Kenny Malone, co-host of NPR’s Planet Money podcast, joins host Indira Lakshmanan to discuss one of the strangest contracts in baseball history.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.