9
2009
Lenny Dykstra is a Ticking Time Bomb
An article by Former Writers
Lenny Dykstra is a shell of his former self, at least to those of us Mets fans who grew up in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s. We knew the Dykstra who led off for the ’86 team and played center field with reckless abandon, the one who won Game 3 of the ’86 NLCS with a line drive over the right field wall off Astros’ closer Dave Smith and then was swallowed up at home plate in a sea of celebrating teammates. Dykstra would later be traded to the Phillies, who he later helped reach the World Series two more times. Everybody loved watching the guy play, usually provided he was playing for your team.
But after a car accident in 1991 in which Dykstra was driving drunk and nearly killed himself and teammate Darren Daulton is when things started to unravel, or at least when consequences started following Lenny’s actions. Years later, the consequences are growing more serious, as Dykstra has recently been portrayed as a lying, cheating, backstabbing, sorry excuse for a human being–yes, really, all of those things. After facing a lawsuit in 2005 from a business partner, Dykstra became known in the business world as an expert stock picker and was even interviewed on CNBC.
But sadly, 2009 has been the year when the world has struck back at Dykstra, and it’s been striking back with a vengeance. His wife, Terri, filed for divorce in April, shortly after an article ran in GQ that detailed one person’s experience of having Dykstra as an employer. That horrific story led to more investigating, and ESPN reported in April that Dykstra was indeed the subject of more than 20 lawsuits since 2007. Last week the Daily News ran a story about how Dykstra was dodging creditors, and how he was stealing pieces of his own property to sell in order to raise income.
To which all of this has to make us wonder, how much are we not reading? And how unbelievable this is that one person can be such a wrecking crew to the lives and wallets of those around him—the same way he used to be a one-man wrecking crew to opposing teams and outfield fences. It’s probably safe to say the guy is beyond hope, but we should probably all hope he winds up in prison to stop the proverbial bleeding, and to keep Dykstra from continuing to mess up anyone else’s life, or his own.
About the Author: Former Writers
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationals | 26 | 18 | .591 | - |
| Braves | 26 | 20 | .565 | 1.0 |
| Mets | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Marlins | 24 | 21 | .533 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 23 | 23 | .500 | 4.0 |
Last updated: 05/25/2012
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Write Your Own Mets Post
Sad.
Frankly, I don’t understand the reason for this article. It’s not basaeball related. It’s not Mets related.
Lenny Dykstra went to the World Series with the Mets in 1986 and the Phillies in 1993 …. your statement that ” …. Dykstra would later be traded to the Phillies, who he later helped reach the World Series two more times …” is factually incorrect.
Further, ho did it all fall apart for Dykstra after the 1991 car accident? It certainly didn’t in baseball terms since he hit .297 in 1991 prior to the accident and then .301 in 1992 and .305 in 1993. In baseball terms, he really did crash and burn there, didn’t he.
You really should remove this trash …. it’s embarrassing for you.
oh, my apologies Lenny. I didn’t realize you were reading this.
Nice comeback.
Things did start to unravel after the car accident, and this is a relevant Mets story so please stop attempting to censor what news us Mets fans want to read. Dykstra played in just 145 of 324 possible games in the 1991 and 1992 seasons. The following is from wiki:
Injuries plagued Dykstra for the rest of his career. He last played in the 1996 season, and launched one final comeback attempt in Spring Training in 1998 before retiring at the age of 35. Since his retirement, Dykstra has run a car wash in Corona, California.
Dykstra was sued in relation to the car wash in 2005. The lawsuit, filed by former business partner Lindsay Jones, alleged that Dykstra used steroids and told Jones to place bets on Phillies games in 1993, when Dykstra was on the team. Dykstra denied the allegations. Dykstra was also identified by others as using steroids during his career.
Lenny’s brothers have both accused him of fraud. One, a former business partner in California car washes claims he was owed $4 million, or 10% of the value when sold.
He has also been accused of using other people’s credit cards to pay for his jet fuel and then not paying them back for it. Former employees of Dykstra including pilots say they were asked to pay for jet fuel with their own credit cards.
It was reported that he even defrauded his own mother out of $13,000, when he called her up crying and begging her to use her credit card to pay for jet fuel.
Dykstra was named in the Mitchell Report on steroid use in Major League Baseball on December 13, 2007. The report cited multiple sources, including Kirk Radomski, stating that Dykstra used anabolic steroids during his MLB career.
In early 2009, however, stories and evidence began to emerge that indicated Dykstra’s financial empire was in a tailspin. A GQ article by Kevin Coughlin, a former photo editor for the New York Post, detailed Coughlin’s 67-day employment with Dykstra producing The Players Club, a magazine geared toward athletes and their expensive lifestyles. It portrayed Dykstra in an unflattering light, as Coughlin detailed incidents accusing Dykstra of credit card fraud, failure to pay rent on the magazine’s Park Avenue offices, bounced checks, lawsuits, and Dykstra’s refusal to pay printing costs.
An ESPN.com investigation in April 2009 went into greater detail, noting Dykstra has been the subject of at least two dozen legal actions since 2007.
In 1999, he was arrested for sexual harassment of a 17 year-old female that worked at his car wash, but the charges were later dropped.
In March 2009, it was alleged that Dykstra’s businesses were facing financial ruin and that he had used offensive terms when speaking about blacks, women, and gays.
Lenny’s wife Terri Dykstra filed for divorce in April, 2009.
He now lives out of his car.
If that’s not unravelling, I don’t know what is.
The Lenny Dykstra story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8-TU3vxrYM
Good story – and it is indeed baseball related.
When I think of Lenny (besides his great play), I think of his mouth and the front of his jersey – full of tobacco juice and his body full of steroids. He went from a small fast man into a hulk over one winter and, after having some mild success, ruined his body. Oh yeah, just before he ruined his body he signed a four year 25 million dollar contract and, due to his probably steroid related injuries (bad back) he had just 388 at bats over the four years!
That’s cheating and stealing.
So I have little sympathy for Nails.
I loved Nails with the Mets, but once he went to Philly it was all down hill. The way he looked in that video at the end is a complete embarrassment.
Not a nice guy and it is very unfortunate.
Well, its going to end badly for him.
[...] him cash and essentially worked for him for free. I don’t want to see his downward spiral end in tragedy, but I don’t feel any sympathy while watching him hock his career [...]
[...] him cash and essentially worked for him for free. I don’t want to see his downward spiral end in tragedy, but I don’t feel any sympathy while watching him hock his career [...]
Something has to be mentally wrong with Dykstra. I cannot think of any other way to explain all of his incredibly irrational and self-destructive behavior.
There is no other ending possible out of all of this for Lenny except a very bad one.
It is extremely hard for anyone to have sympathy for Lenny after reading about some of the things he is accused of doing, the worst one being using his mother’s credit card for $13K in jet fuel and then not paying her back.
The obvious predicted outcome finds Lenny completely broke (already happened) and in prison for fraud.
I knew Lenny when he was just about to leave Garden Grove High School, he was just about to go off to join the Mets Farm Team in Fla. His brother and I played JC Football together and I would often go over to their home and Lenny was just like any other kid who was being recruited by every school for baseball as well as basketball and track. Lenny was an all around athlete who at 155 pounds as a senior in high school really played way above what his actual size. He was excited to be so sought after for multiple sports not just baseball. Lenny comes from a great family, his brother Brian and I were very good friends at the time and he was a solid citizen as well. I am not sure what caused Lenny to lose sight of the values I know he had but I still refuse to believe he is totally bad because I know his family and there is a lot of good in them. I wish Lenny nothing but good will and hope that he can get his life back on track. By the way he was an outstanding baseball player way before steroids it is just too bad that he got caught up in what appears to be a common mess athletes of his time got caught up in.