Amazin’ Avenue: Simon: The Top 50 Mets of All Time: #34 Bobby Bonilla

I’ll show you the Bonilla right here, Klap!

There were a lot of reasons for the failures of those early nineties Mets teams, but Bobby Bonilla wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t the perennial MVP candidate the Mets hoped they were getting when they opened the vault to bring him to Shea, but they really should have known that all along. His numbers weren’t those of a terrific hitter. A very good hitter, sure, but his production at the plate paled in comparison to those of his former Pittsburgh teammate Barry Bonds. The Mets thought they were getting more than just a ballplayer in Bonilla, and perhaps that’s where the biggest evaluative failure lies. Bonilla was being paid like an outstanding hitter even though everyone knew—even at the time—that he was merely a very good hitter whose personality was supposed to bridge the gap between goodness and greatness. When it didn’t, the backlash was aimed at Bonilla instead of the more appropriate target, Al Harazin.

Bonilla is best remembered for his massive contract (that the Mets continue to bear the financial burden of), and is most often thought of unfavorably as a result. The reality is that the Mets shoved that money in front of Bonilla and he took it, and all he could manage in return was to be the best hitter the Mets had in each of the four years he served with them from 1992 through his deadline trade to the Orioles midway through the 1995 season. Bobby Bonilla wasn’t a great player, but he was a very good player, even if he couldn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations placed on him.