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Roberto Martin Antonio "Bobby" Bonilla (pronounced /boʊˈniːjə/, born February 23, 1963 in The Bronx, New York) is a former player in Major League Baseball who played from 1986 to 2001. Known in his playing days as "Bobby Bo," Bonilla is of Puerto Rican descent.

Playing career

He was called the $29 million man. Bonilla was signed out of high school by Pittsburgh Pirates scout Syd Thrift. His rise through the Pirates' farm system came to a halt during spring training in 1985 when he broke his right leg in a collision with teammate Bip Roberts. The White Sox then acquired him through the Rule 5 Draft. After making his major league debut with Chicago, Bonilla was regularly hazed by veteran players and Negro League Baseball star Buck O'Neil who put shaving cream in his shoes. Syd Thrift, then the Pirates' General Manager, reacquired the unhappy Bonilla in exchange for pitcher Jose DeLeon.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Bonilla became the Pirates' starting third baseman in 1987 but after committing a whopping 67 errors over his next two seasons at the hot corner, manager Jim Leyland moved him to right field. There he formed a formidable combination alongside stars Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke and helped propel the Pittsburgh Pirates to two of their three straight NL East titles from 1990-1992. During a 1989 incident, Bonilla was reportedly reprimanded for his assault on club house attendant Gabe Thomas. He later claimed he was only upset because Thomas was allegedly told by Bonilla to remove the mesh from the seating at Three Rivers so his family could keep their distance from other fans. His family never made the trip from D.C.

New York Mets

In 1992, he was signed as a free agent by the New York Mets to a (then) very lucrative 5 year, $29 million contract ($44,034,737 in current dollar terms). But without his fellow Pirate stars around him, his offensive production dropped. His stay in New York would also be marred by a number of incidents, such as threatening sportswriter Bob Klapisch that he would "show him the Bronx" in response to his book on the 1992 Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy: The Collapse Of The New York Mets (ISBN 0-8032-7822-5).^[1] On another occasion, he called the press box during a game to complain about an error that he was charged with (later attempting to explain by saying he was calling to check up on the PR director's cold.)^[2]

Orioles/Marlins/Dodgers

Finally, in 1995, Bonilla was traded by the Mets with a player to be named later to the Baltimore Orioles for Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa.

After helping the Orioles to the American League Championship Series in 1996, he was once again granted free agency and signed with the Florida Marlins. Reunited with his old manager, Jim Leyland, he helped the Marlins win the 1997 World Series. He spent the 1998 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Back to the Mets

In 1999, the New York Mets reacquired Bonilla from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Mel Rojas. Again, his level of play did not measure up to expectations and he had numerous clashes with manager Bobby Valentine over lack of playing time. His tenure in New York culminated in an infamous incident during Game Six of the 1999 NLCS where the Mets were eliminated by the Braves in a gut-wrenching eleven inning game while Bonilla reportedly sat in the clubhouse playing cards with teammate Rickey Henderson.

Atlanta Braves

When the New York Mets placed Bonilla on unconditional waivers in 2000, they agreed to pay out the remainder of his contract by deferring the remaining $5.9 million. Instead of paying him upfront for that money they came to an agreement where the Mets would pay him 25 equal payments of $1,193,248.20 every July 1 from 2011 until 2035. He spent the 2000 season playing for the Atlanta Braves. Although that seems like a large amount of money, the present value of those payments at an interest rate of 8% is $5.9 million.

St. Louis Cardinals

In 2001, he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, but was released due to an injury and the success of his replacement, Albert Pujols. (It is erroneously believed that Bonilla's injury was the only reason Pujols made the 2001 Cardinals; in reality, Pujols had an excellent spring training and had already earned a spot before the injury.) He played his final game on October 7, 2001. He also played from 1984 to 1988 with the Mayaguez Indians of the Puerto Rican Winter League.

Overall, Bobby Bonilla was a six-time All-Star, and had career statistics of 2010 hits, 287 home runs, 1173 runs batted in, and a career .279 batting average.

Trivia

• Bonilla hit one of the only thirteen home runs ever hit into the upper deck of Three Rivers Stadium, and one of the six to the right-field side. Willie Stargell is the all-time leader in upper deck shots at the stadium, hitting four of the remaining five right-field blasts; Mark Whiten hit the other. The left-field upper deck had been reached by Jeff Bagwell twice, and Bob Robertson, Greg Luzinski, Howard Johnson, Glenallen Hill and Devon White (his home run struck the facade) once each. ^[3]

• Bonilla also homered over the roof in right-field during interleague play as a member of the Florida Marlins at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

• Bonilla also made a cameo in the movie Rookie of the Year.
• Bonilla's contract with the Mets had a stipulation in which he will receive money from the team until 2035.^[4]

See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions

Notes

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Bobby Bonilla at the Internet Movie Database