⚾ Framed Autographed/Signed Bobby Bonilla 35x39 New York Grey Baseball Jersey JSA COA – Hand-Signed by the New York Mets Third Baseman and Outfielder Whose Career Combined Three All-Star Selections, a 1997 World Series Championship, and One of the Most Discussed Deferred Payment Contracts in the History of Professional Sports – Authenticated by JSA

⚾ There is a date on the baseball calendar that has taken on a life of its own over the years – July 1, which the baseball internet has designated “Bobby Bonilla Day” in recognition of the annual payment the New York Mets make to their former third baseman under one of the most creative financial arrangements in professional sports history. When the Mets released Bonilla after the 1999 season, they still owed him $5.9 million. Rather than paying the sum immediately, the club agreed to defer it with 8 percent annual interest, beginning payments in 2011 and continuing through 2035. Each July 1, the Mets send Bobby Bonilla a check for $1,193,248.20. The payments have made him a recurring fixture in the baseball news cycle every summer, the subject of a kind of annual conversation about contracts and deferred compensation that the game's front offices have been thinking about ever since. This signed New York grey baseball jersey – the road grey that the Mets wore during his years in Queens – carries the signature of the player at the center of that story. Condition: NOS.

⚾ The Bobby Bonilla who signed that deferred contract was a three-time All-Star who had spent six seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates as one of the most productive hitters in the National League. From 1986 through 1991 in Pittsburgh, he played alongside Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, and Jay Bell on a Pirates team that reached the NLCS three consecutive times between 1990 and 1992 without advancing to the World Series – a run of near-misses that remains one of the more discussed chapters in Pittsburgh baseball history. His Pittsburgh peak earned him All-Star selections in 1988, 1989, and 1990. The Mets signed him in 1992 to a five-year, $29 million contract that was among the largest in National League history at the time, placing him in New York's sports spotlight with expectations that large contracts in that era always carried. He went on to win the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins before his final stint with the Mets in 1999. The grey road jersey on this piece belongs to the New York chapter of a career whose financial afterlife has given it an unusual kind of cultural permanence. Condition: NOS.

⚾ JSA (James Spence Authentication) certified the Bobby Bonilla signature on this framed 35x39 New York grey baseball jersey. Three All-Star Games. A World Series championship. And July 1 on the calendar. Condition: NOS.

⭐ Bobby Bonilla. New York Mets. Autographed Grey Baseball Jersey. JSA COA. 3x All-Star. 1997 World Series Champion. Bobby Bonilla Day. Hall of Fame Sports Memorabilia. Condition: NOS.