It’s March 15, 1996, and March Madness continues across the country. Out in Arizona, Canadian point guard Steve Nash scored 28 points and dished 12 assists as Santa Clara ran past the Maryland Terrapins. The results of the game were of particular interest to Orioles outfielder Bobby Bonilla, who has spent the week recruiting people to join an NCAA bracket pool. The Baltimore Sun’s Buster Olney noted that Bonilla was “handing out sheets like a zealous campaign worker to those passing by, shouting all the while. Step right up! Gotta get these in by tomorrow! Hey, Mr. Millionaire over there, are you in?! You’re making a million and you’re not in?! Take one of these! Let’s go!” (Baltimore Sun, p. C1, March 16, 1996)

Once the highest paid player in baseball with the New York Mets, Bonilla is now the life of the party with the O’s, serving as a boisterous foil to the quiet intensity of many of his teammates.

Bobby Bonilla was born in February of 1963 in the Bronx. His parents had moved to the city from Puerto Rico, and he grew up in the Jackson projects about a mile from Yankee Stadium. As Ryan Cortes noted in an andscape piece on Bonilla, his childhood neighborhood “was symbolic of urban decay” during a decade when the population of New York City declined by nearly a million people. The South Bronx became known for vacant buildings and “numerous cases of arson so building owners could collect insurance on underwater properties.”

“You talk about pressure in baseball,” Bonilla told the Associated Press in 1989. “There is no pressure in baseball. Pressure is growing up in the South Bronx.”

Bonilla devoted himself to baseball and was terrific at it, but his route to pro ball wasn’t exactly traditional. He was far under the radar at Herbert Lehman High School and wasn’t even drafted in the 1981 draft. But he was selected to play for a high school all-star team in Scandinavia, of all places, arranged by longtime Pittsburgh scout Syd Thrift. “It was the season of the midnight sun,” Thrift said. “We all slept in one big room. There were no shades on the windows and the sun never set. It was the most bizarre thing you ever saw.”

Recognizing his talent, Thrift called his friend, Pirates minor-league director Branch Barrett Rickey, (grandson of the Dodgers GM who signed Jackie Robinson), and shortly after that, Bonilla signed with Pittsburgh. After steadily climbing through the minors, the White Sox selected him in the Rule 5 draft in 1986, and he made his major league debut in Chicago that season. He played roughly half a season before Thrift (now GM of Pittsburgh) reacquired Bonilla. Bobby Bo was a regular for the Pirates from that point forward, and by 1988, he was a certified star, playing third base on the same team as superstar Barry Bonds. 

Bobby Bo batted from both sides of the plate and was a versatile — if not great — fielder at multiple positions in the outfield and corner infield. From 1988 through 1991, he hit .284 and averaged nearly 25 homers and over 100 RBI a season and helped the Pirates reach heights — two straight National League Championship Series appearances — they haven’t come close to since. He made the National League All Star team each season, and finished second behind his teammate Bonds for the 1990 NL MVP and third behind Bonds and Atlanta’s Terry Pendleton for 1991 NL MVP.

And then he went back home to New York. On December 2, 1991, he signed with the Mets for 5 years and $29 million, which made him the highest paid player in all of baseball. “It’s a dream come true,” Bonilla said at the time. “Just being in the right place at the right time. So many people asked me, ‘How could you play in New York?’ But I’m from here, man. It means something to come back to New York. I can’t wait to get started.” (New York Daily News, p. 53, December 3, 1991)

He might have wanted to wait, because it didn’t go all that great. In 1992, he missed 34 games and had his worst season since his rookie year, hitting just .249 with 18 homers and just 70 RBI. He bounced back and made the All Star team again in 1993 and 1995. But he never came close to the same production he had in Pittsburgh, and by midseason 1995, the Mets were done with him.

Right before the trade deadline in July 1995, the Orioles sent Damon Buford and top prospect Alex Ochoa to New York for Bonilla. It was a big move for the O’s for the playoff push, but Baltimore was thrilled to have Bobby Bo in the fold through the end of that big contract in 1996. In The Baltimore Sun, Ken Rosenthal said the move was “totally impulsive, and totally glorious” and kept going from there: “Bobby Bo. Bobby O. Remember when Bonilla signed with the Mets, and told reporters they couldn’t knock the smile off his face? The New York media answered the challenge, but now let’s see Bonilla knock the smile off Baltimore’s face.” (By the way, by this time, Bonilla’s old friend Thrift is now the director of the Orioles’ minor league system.)

Out of the New York pressure cooker, Bonilla was great in Baltimore, closing out 1995 by hitting .333 and clubbing 10 homers after the trade. But the Orioles came up just short of the playoffs.

In a place where he seems comfortable, Bonilla is relaxed and having fun in O’s camp this spring. He was the first player to get to camp, arriving two weeks early. His teammates love him. “He’s a very likable guy,” outfielder Brady Anderson said. “He’s very upbeat. He’s outspoken, and it’s usually done in a positive manner. If he says something, it’s usually done to pick up another guy. He’s a terrific guy to have on the team.” (Baltimore Sun, p. C1, March 16, 1991)

We’re still not sure where he’ll play. It’s possible he could return to third base for the first time in years. He and B.J. Surhoff are having a preseason “battle” for the position, and judging by their collective abilities at the hot corner, it is what we would today refer to as a “mid-off.” 

Bonilla isn’t worried, he’ll play wherever they want him to. He just loves the game. “I want everybody to feel comfortable in here,” he said. “There’s enough pressure in this game, and this helps people relax. That way, you’re going to be able to be at your best.”

Bonilla may shrug it off now, but he’s carried a lot of pressure in his life. From the South Bronx to the weight of baseball’s richest contract. But now he’s found a home as a member of a star-studded lineup, and his experience and leadership could be critical as the O’s look to finish what they started in 1995 and finally make it back to the playoffs.

The #1 movie in America on the weekend of March 15, 1996, was once again The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. Since we featured it last week, we’ll look at the #1 new movie this week, which was Executive Decision, starring Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo and Steven Seagall. Arguably the greatest movie featuring those four actors and two planes docking in midair, Executive Decision is just a taste of what’s to come, because 1996 was really the peak of the 1990s action blockbuster.

Welcome to a recurring segment where I find fun things in today’s (in 1996) Baltimore Sun!

Here’s a picture of a Duke guy crying. Happy Selection Sunday!