At Celebrity Net Worth, we're big fans of Bobby Bonilla Day. If you are somehow unfamiliar with Bobby's story, here's a quick primer: Bobby Bonilla is a former baseball player who retired from the major leagues in 2001. Two years before that, he was playing with the New York Mets. Then-Mets owner Fred Wilpon wanted to invest the money remaining on Bobby Bonilla's contract with Bernie Madoff (before Madoff was revealed as a fraud, of course).
Wilpon and Bonilla struck a deal. Bobby's remaining $5.9 million contract would be deferred for 11 years, at which point Wilpon would pay back Bonilla the $5.9 million plus interest in equal 25-year installments. As a result, every July 1 from 2011 to 2035, Bonilla earns $1.19 million. And actually, thanks to a second deferred contract (half of another $6 million deal), Bonilla has been getting an extra $250,000 every year since 2003 and will continue to do so until that deal runs out in 2028.
All told, Bobby earns about $1.44 million every July 1st. Not bad for a guy who hasn't swung a bat in over two decades.
But as wild and headline-worthy as Bonilla's deal is, there's a major caveat. Really, July 1st should be renamed… Max Scherzer Day.
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Max Scherzer's Jackpot
Max Scherzer entered the league in 2008 and built a Hall of Fame-caliber career, with multiple Cy Young Awards and a reputation as one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation. But he may be equally legendary for the way he structured one specific contract.
In 2015, Scherzer signed a 7-year, $210 million deal with the Washington Nationals. The first four years of the deal were paid normally, totaling about $105 million pre-tax. The final $105 million? That's where things got creative.
Rather than take that second half of the contract during his playing years, Scherzer agreed to defer it, collecting $15 million every July 1st from 2022 through 2028.
That means each July 1st, long after he left the Nationals, Max Scherzer is handed a $15 million check just for existing.
As of July 1, 2025, Scherzer has received four of the seven payments. That's $60 million in deferred cash already banked… with $45 million still to go.
And that's not even the whole picture.
Still Pitching, Still Getting Paid
Despite entering the "retirement money" phase of his Nationals contract, Scherzer isn't actually retired. He's still in the league—and still getting paid.
After a stint with the Dodgers in 2021 and a huge contract with the Mets in 2022 (three years, $130 million), Scherzer was traded to the Texas Rangers, where he continued to earn $43 million per year.
In 2025, he's pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays, collecting $15.5 million in salary, on top of the $15 million he receives from the Nationals.
So on July 1, 2025, Scherzer is pulling in $30.5 million in total salary, with half of it hitting his bank account in one glorious, effortless lump sum.
Scherzer's deferred deal is arguably one of the most lucrative and strategically genius contracts in the history of baseball. He gets generational money spread out during the back half of his career and into retirement, locking in tens of millions in predictable, low-risk income.
It's the kind of financial arrangement that players dream of, agents obsess over, and teams only offer to someone they view as a cornerstone.
So while Bobby Bonilla Day will always hold a special place in baseball lore, let's call it like it is:
July 1st belongs to Max Scherzer.
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