Bobby Bo: Card game was Henderson’s idea

Bobby Bonilla wasn’t ignoring the game. He was trying to diffuse a possible explosive situation.

It was extra innings in Game 6 of the 1999 NLCS against the Braves, and Bonilla and Rickey Henderson were in the clubhouse playing cards instead of in the dugout.

“Rickey Henderson was in left field and was taken out of the game. He was not happy,” Bonilla said on WFAN Thursday morning. “He was pissed. And we had our moments with Bobby [Valentine], there’s no question about that.

“Rickey says to me, ‘Bo, get the deck of cards, let me just relax my mind.’ And the reason we did that, we actually had played cards all year long. This was more to relax Rickey. We had the game on, we’re playing cards.”

The Mets would lose the game in 11 innings, and Bonilla and Henderson received plenty of criticism about the card game. All these years later, Bonilla still gets asked about it.

“That seems to be what everybody wants to talk about,” said Bonilla, who now lives in Sarasota, Fla. “It’s amazing how many people think I was playing cards the entire game. [Rickey] was so upset. I just took care of the problem. It wound up being more of a problem for me. Rickey goes on to the Hall of Fame. Nobody talks about Rickey, everything is Bobby Bo did it. That’s OK. I can take that hit.”

The other topic everyone wants to talk about involving Bonilla is the annual $1.19 million check he still receives from the Mets every July 1 through 2035.

Bonilla returned to the Mets after the 1998 season in a trade with the Dodgers. He made $5.9 million for hardly playing in 1999, hitting just .160 in 60 regular season games. He was owed another $5.9 million for 2000, and both sides agreed to defer the money until 2011 with eight percent annual interest. Instead of that $5.9 million, he will earn $29.8 million.

“It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.