Celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day With These Memes About the Former MLB Player's Contract Payout

If you aren't up to date on your MLB lore or professional sports stats, you really don't have to be to appreciate Bobby Bonilla Day and the memes that go along with it. Those who recognize the unofficial holiday celebrate every year on July 1, and it all has to do with a contract that the former baseball player had with the New York Mets.

According to ESPN, the team offered to buy out Bonilla's contract and pay the $5.9 million that remained. However, instead, the team agreed to a deferred payment structure, which meant that Bonilla would be paid roughly $1.19 million every year on July 1 for 25 years. This started in 2011, and ever since then, baseball fans have recognized the easy paycheck the former player has received every year.

This meme references Mike Trout, a Los Angeles Angels player who began with the team in 2011, the year Bonilla began to receive his payments. The meme was shared on a Facebook account for MLB memes, specifically, and users in the comments applauded Bonilla for securing the bag before he left the Mets.

Although the contract loophole of sorts with the Meta meant that Bonilla would no longer be with the team, it also meant getting yearly checks that would also accumulate 8 percent interest. In other words, he made out pretty well, and it's all the more reason for baseball fans to cling to Bobby Bonilla Day.

According to this meme, the Mets dropped the ball (no pun intended) when Bonilla's payouts began. So just in case you think you're having a bad day, be glad you haven't agreed to pay someone tons of money for decades to come.

According to one meme, another reason for Bonilla to celebrate his Mets settlement is that it essentially set him up for life. Because of the amount of payments he will receive, he isn't due to have his last check until around 2035, when he will be 72 years old. For a player who retired from the game long before the payments even began, that's not a bad retirement plan.

This meme points out once again how Bonilla gets so much money every year on July 1 for simply doing nothing. He was smart enough to be able to take advantage of his deferred contract with the New York team, and now, he is commended by fans for that.

Although Bonilla retired in 2001, before his deferred contract enabled him to get a huge yearly payout for 25 years, he is still remembered as a skilled player and as a wealthy one. OK, maybe he isn't sitting in a room counting his millions, but some fans like to think so.

Although this meme might say otherwise, Bonilla played a solid game for multiple MLB teams, per Yahoo! Sports. Over the course of his career, he played for the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and others.

Although the Mets aren't the only team to have a deferred contract payout policy, according to ESPN, this particular payout often has fans ready to poke fun at the MLB in general. But really, it's Bonilla who gets the last laugh.