Wednesday's Birthday Shout-Out: Bobby Bonilla Goes Undercover!

For about a three year period, Bobby Bonilla was one of the most feared hitters in baseball. Playing on a Pittsburgh Pirates team that owned the NL East for three straight seasons (I'm sure that's as weird to read as it is to type), Bonilla teamed up with Andy Van Slyke and a much slimmer, mustachioed Barry Bonds to create a formidable outfield.

After signing for big bucks with the New York Mets, Bonilla's production nosedived and all of the attitude problems that were overlooked when he was hitting .280 and above started to catch up with him. He put together a couple more big seasons - one in 1995 while splitting time between the Mets and the Orioles, then the following year in his only full season in Baltimore.

Not that he didn't put his time in the Big Apple to good use. In 1994, Bonilla made a cameo on the hip-hop cop drama "New York Undercover" playing a washed-out pro athlete who wears a wire to bust a drug dealer.

As far as athlete cameos go, Bonilla's acting is respectable. Although I'm sure there are plenty of Mets fans who were quite happy to see his character get pistol whipped.

By the way, check around 4:26 in...Cannon Howard looks suspiciously like Rick Barry.

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