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Miami Marlins Legacy Series: Best Ever Third Basemen

By Kevin Kraczkowski

Florida Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera celebrates a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks August 13, 2006 in Phoenix. The Marlins won 6 - 5. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Florida Marlins third baseman Miguel Cabrera celebrates a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks August 13, 2006 in Phoenix. The Marlins won 6 - 5. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /
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25 Oct 1997: Third baseman Bobby Bonilla of the Florida Marlins in action during the sixth game of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Indians won the game 4-1 forcing the series to a seventh game. Mandatory Credit: Doug Pensinger /Allsport /

7. Bobby Bonilla (175 appearances)

Bonilla, another third baseman out of New York City (the Bronx, technically), was born on February 23rd, 1963. After going undrafted, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system, and eventually made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1986 after a rule 5 gamble.

The Pirates weren’t happy to part with Bonilla, and sent Jose DeLeon to the White Sox prior to the trade deadline to get him back. So Bonilla played 138 games in his first big league season, split near-even between the two leagues. He would remain with the Pirates through the 1991 season, making four all-star teams during that time.

After three and a half seasons with the New York Mets and a year-and-a-half with the Baltimore Orioles (and another two all-star game invitations), Bonilla signed with the Florida Marlins through free agency prior to the 1997 campaign.

You’ll remember that in that season, then-owner H. Wayne Huizenga went all-in during free agency, and wound up with the then Florida-Marlins winning their first World Series Championship after only five years as a team. Bonilla hit .297/.378/.468 in 153 games, with 17 homers and 96 RBI. Defensively, he played 1268 2/3 innings at third base, racking up a .938 fielding percentage with a minus-13 Rtot/yr.

Bonilla appeared in 28 games for the 1998 Florida Marlins before Huizenga traded him with Manuel Barrios, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Gary Sheffield to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile.

Bonilla has retained a small slice of the national spotlight due to his famously getting paid $1 million per year in deferred payments from the Mets after they bought out his 2000 season. From 2011 through 2035, Bonilla will continue to collect. He will be 72-years-old when he receives his final paycheck.

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