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" Bobby Bonilla is living two versions of the American dream. He had a successful career as a professional baseball player, and, 14 years after he retired, he&amp;#039;s still getting a paycheck from the New York Mets for doing absolutely nothing. Today, July 1, Bonilla will receive his annual paycheck for $1,193,248.20. And he&amp;#039;ll keep getting one for the next 20 years. Here&amp;#039;s how it happened, according to CBS Sports:  The deal was signed by the Marlins in 1996, but Bonilla was traded to theDodgers in the 1998 blockbuster that involved Gary Sheffield and Mike Piazza. Bonilla was later flipped to the Mets. He then only played 60 games in 1999, hitting .160/.277/.303, so the Mets saw fit to get rid of him before the 2000 season instead of paying him $5.9 million that year.  There was a deferral clause in the deal that meant the buyout for Bonilla&amp;#039;s $5.9 million option gets him nearly $1.2 million every year from 2010-2035.  And, courtesy of ESPN, here&amp;#039;s how much some other Mets are earning this year\u2014the ones who are actually suiting up for games.   #America. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a36121/bobby-bonilla-still-paid-mets/>