No two people were booed more vociferously at Shea Stadium last year than Bobby Bonilla and John Rocker, and no team was more hated and vilified than the Braves. Well no one can guarantee they will all be present when the cocky, reigning NL champs come to Shea for a four-game series June 29, but there’s no limit to how charged-up the atmosphere will be if they are.
It’s just in the cards.
Bonilla, who was given his unconditional release from the Mets this month for the deferred price of over $29 million dollars, signed a minor-league contract yesterday with the Braves, of all teams. Now the man who says New York unfairly hates him will be joined with the man who says he hates New York, and the possibility of fireworks is tantalizingly overwhelming.
In fact, it was Bonilla’s prediction of fireworks if he stayed with the Mets and didn’t play that eventually secured his lucrative release. The Mets were so eager to shed his unwieldy contract and unwieldy body that they agreed to pay up and let him go sign elsewhere. But the Braves, the classy, perennial winners who shuffle players in and out and always seem to win?
Most people assumed that if Bonilla signed on with anyone, it would be an American League team where he could DH. But the Braves, who already have Wally Joyner as insurance for Andres Galarraga not returning fully from cancer, want Bonilla for depth. If he makes it, he will pinch hit, help in the outfield and at third if Chipper Jones needs a rest, and in case of emergency, back up at first.
“Bobby [Cox] and I feel that Bonilla adds great depth and strength to our bench and provides us with another very productive defensive player,” Braves GM John Schuerholz said.
Believe it or not Bonilla, had offers from about six teams, including the Blue Jays and Red Sox. But after meeting with Cox and Schuerholz yesterday morning in Atlanta, where Bonilla is attending the Super Bowl, he picked the Mets’ most hated division rivals. How appropriate.
“They explained the role to me and I fully understand this whole thing going in,” Bonilla told the Morris News Service. “I just want to go out and show I could be a productive player. They expect a certain attitude and way to go about things in Atlanta and I understand that. I’m ecstatic and excited. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to play for the Braves.”
It was never so wonderful with for Bonilla with the Mets, not in 1992 when he signed what was then the biggest contract in the history of the sport, nor this time around. From the day the Mets traded for him and Bobby Valentine wondered if he would “catch the ball,” to his infamous card game with Rickey Henderson in the clubhouse during Game 6 of the NLCS, Bonilla’s stay in New York was stormy at best.
He suffered through a torn patella tendon in spring training and tendinitis in his knee, hit only .160 with four home runs and 18 RBIs, threatened to fight the manager, threw the scorecard at his office door and refused to pinch hit in a game. But through it all, Bonilla maintains he was misunderstood by the local media.
“It’s the same old thing,” he said. “In Pittsburgh I’m a good guy, in New York I’m a bad guy. In Florida I’m a good guy, in New York I’m a bad guy.”
Indeed, Bonilla received the “Good Guy” award from the Florida baseball writers in 1997.
Regarding his troubles with Valentine, Bonilla said he just needed more playing time.