Forget Bobby Bonilla Day. In 1984, Bruce Sutter Pulled Off An Even Better Deferred Contract Heist With The Atlanta Braves

Every July 1, baseball fans celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day, the annual reminder that the New York Mets still send Bonilla a check for $1.193 million despite the fact that he has not played in the majors since 2001. Bonilla's deal is famous for good reason. The Mets owed him $5.9 million, deferred the money at 8% interest, and agreed to pay him nearly $30 million between 2011 and 2035. It is funny, it is clean, and it arrives on the same date every year like a national sports-finance holiday.

But Bonilla was not baseball's only deferred-money legend. He might not even be the best one.

Years before Bonilla and the Mets created their annual punchline, Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves that deserves its own holiday. Sutter's deal was not merely a player taking money later instead of now. It was a financial machine. A six-year, $9.1 million free-agent contract turned into a multi-decade annuity that kept paying him long after his playing career ended, long after his final save, and even into the year he died.

The Pitcher Who Made The Splitter Famous

Bruce Sutter was not some random overpaid free agent. At his peak, he was one of the most dominant relief pitchers in baseball history. He helped define the modern closer role, popularized the split-finger fastball, and became one of the rare relievers who could legitimately be described as a game-changing weapon.

Sutter broke in with the Chicago Cubs in 1976, then had his greatest years with the St. Louis Cardinals. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 1979, made six All-Star teams, led the National League in saves five times, and closed out the Cardinals' 1982 World Series championship. When he retired, he had exactly 300 saves, which at the time ranked third in major league history. He was later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006, becoming the first pitcher elected to Cooperstown without ever starting a major league game.

So when Sutter hit free agency after the 1984 season, he had leverage. A lot of leverage. He had just led the majors with 45 saves and posted a microscopic 1.54 ERA for the Cardinals. The Atlanta Braves, then owned by Ted Turner, wanted a marquee closer and were willing to get creative to land him.

The Braves Contract That Became An Annuity

In December 1984, Sutter signed with the Braves. The deal was widely described as a six-year, $9.1 million contract. But the real magic was in the deferral language.

The structure was complicated and, even at the time, confusing enough that the Los Angeles Times revisited the math just weeks after the signing. The basic version: Sutter would receive salary during the initial six-year term, while a deferred-payment account would grow at a guaranteed double-digit interest rate. Early reports described a 13% rate, but later details put the guaranteed minimum at 12.3%. The agreement called for annual payments of at least $1.12 million for 30 years, plus a final $9.1 million principal payment at the end.

That is the part that makes the deal so wild. Sutter did not merely defer a chunk of salary and get it back later. The Braves essentially turned his contract into a long-term income stream. Starting in 1991, after the original six-year term expired, Sutter began receiving seven-figure annual payments. Those payments continued for three decades. Then came the balloon payment.

Depending on which version of the accounting you use, Sutter's deferred money alone totaled roughly $42.7 million: 30 annual payments of about $1.12 million, plus the final $9.1 million principal payment. Add the salary he received during the original playing-contract years, and the total value landed around the $47 million to $50 million range.

For a contract signed in 1984, that is staggering.

(Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

The Braves Got Almost Nothing On The Field

From Sutter's perspective, the contract was brilliant. From the Braves' perspective, it was a disaster.

Sutter arrived in Atlanta as one of the best closers alive, but his body was already breaking down. In 1985, his first season with the Braves, he saved 23 games but posted a 4.48 ERA. Shoulder problems soon derailed him. He pitched only 16 games in 1986, missed the entire 1987 season, and returned for one final partial season in 1988. Across his entire Braves tenure, Sutter produced 40 saves and a 4.55 ERA in 152 1/3 innings.

His final major league appearance came on September 9, 1988. Fittingly, it was also his 300th career save, making him just the third pitcher to reach that milestone. But by then, the Braves had already lost the gamble. They had signed a Hall of Fame closer and received three injury-plagued seasons. Then, after he was gone, the checks kept going out.

That is what separates the Sutter deal from so many other bad sports contracts. The Braves were not merely paying for disappointing production. They were paying for disappointing production with a compounding financial tail that stretched into another century.

Better Than Bobby Bonilla?

Bobby Bonilla's contract is famous because it is easy to understand. He gets $1.193 million every July 1 from 2011 through 2035. The total payout is about $29.8 million. It is the perfect internet story.

Bruce Sutter's contract is less famous because it is messier. The dates are less clean. The math is more complicated. The annual payment was not attached to a modern meme. But financially, Sutter's arrangement was arguably even more impressive.

Bonilla turned $5.9 million into $29.8 million. Sutter turned a $9.1 million headline contract into something approaching $50 million in total value. Bonilla's payments last 25 years. Sutter's annual deferred payments lasted 30 years, and then the Braves still owed him a final $9.1 million payment.

And while Bonilla's deal became famous because the Mets are the Mets, Sutter's deal quietly made him one of the great deferred-compensation winners in sports history.

The Final Twist

Bruce Sutter died in October 2022 at age 69 after a recent cancer diagnosis. The Baseball Hall of Fame said he died in Cartersville, Georgia, and one of his sons told the Associated Press that Sutter had been in hospice surrounded by family.

That same year was also the scheduled end of his Braves annuity. In one of the stranger coincidences in sports finance history, Sutter lived long enough to see the final year of a contract he had signed nearly four decades earlier. He had last pitched for Atlanta in 1988. The Braves were still paying him in 2022.