Blue Jays WIN. Phillies lose.
Posted on 07/08/2009 5:21:14 PM PDT by dennisw
The 46-year-old Dykstra, a former World Series champ with the Mets and spark plug with the Phillies, faces upward of 20 suits from creditors coast to coast, most related to The Players Club, a problem-plagued magazine he launched last year.
Among those claiming they were stiffed by the player known as "Nails" are a pair of private jet rental companies, his brother, a Las Vegas printing business, a former lawyer and several former employees.
Dykstra's wife is also suing him for divorce, and his $18 million California mansion is in foreclosure.
"In a move that will shield his property from a host of meritless claims, Mr. Lenny Dykstra filed a petition for Chapter 11 protection," his California lawyer, Walter Hackett, said in a statement.
"This action will provide Mr. Dykstra time to reorganize his estate [and] successfully challenge the multitude of meritless claims that have been made against him."
Hackett, in his statement, described the pending lawsuits as "parties who have attempted to steal his property, breached material agreements with him or otherwise acted in bad faith."
Dykstra is accused of lying and duping business partners, bouncing checks and ignoring court orders for payment.
The three-time All Star played 12 years before retiring in 1996.
Also nicknamed "The Dude," Dykstra was known for the hustle and fearless play that made him popular in New York and Philadelphia.
Batting leadoff for the 1986 Mets, he'll be forever remembered for his walkoff home run at Shea Stadium in a playoff victory over the Houston Astros - and his leadoff home run in Game 3 of the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.
His home run came at Fenway Park after the Mets lost the first two games at Shea and sparked the Mets to four wins in the next five games for an improbable World Series championship.
Dykstra batted .304 in the playoffs and .296 in the World Series.
A fan favorite, Dykstra was traded along with pitcher Roger McDowell and a minor leaguer for outfielder Juan Samuel on June 18, 1989. First baseman Keith Hernandez, Dykstra's teammate, later wrote that Lenny was "on the wild and crazy side," which likely prompted the trade to the Phillies.
Many fans consider the trade a turning point in Mets fortunes as the team did not become a serious competitor again until the late 1990s.
In 2002, Dykstra made a dramatic return to New York when he was elected as part of the Mets' 40th Anniversary All-Amazin Team. He returned in 2006 on the 20th anniversary of the 1986 World Championship team and got a big roar from the Mets faithful.
Nails also was at Shea for the ballpark's farewell last Sept. 28.
"I had many great years in Philadelphia, but my best days were with the New York Mets," Dykstra said to sustained cheers.
Over the years his name had been mentioned as a possible coach or manager for the Mets.
Never take partners in a business, this kinda crap is what happens when you do. Also happens if you dont pay your bills.
Never take partners in a business, this kinda crap is what happens when you do. Also happens if you dont pay your bills........
That’s a good warning for Dykstra’s partners. He stiffed plenty of them. I’ll bet there is lots of pretty women in Dykstra’s story
As a Met fan, he was exciting, but time has shown him to be
continuously over the top.
Hey he’s famous, he gets a freebie right?
I saw Dykstra on F&F last year promoting this rag. He is about on par with Ali relative to cognitive skills. Gone.
Day trading deity Jim Cramer crowned him "One of the great ones in this business." Fortune magazine gushed for six pages over the "fledgling guru" of investing. HBO referred to him as a "prominent, remarkably successful stock investor."
The subject of this breathless coverage is Lenny Dykstra, a former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder who claims a 90%-plus return picking stocks each of the last three years. Yet a close look at Dykstra's portfolio raises doubts about whether the baseball All-Star turned TheStreet.com (nasdaq: TSCM - news - people ) guru has been picking many of those stocks or relying on a seasoned stand-in.
It's obvious what's going on here," fumes Dykstra about anyone who would doubt his stock-picking prowess. "This is a smear job."
Dykstra is just another dirty doper who’s on his way down.
Karma can be a real bitch.
I remember when he would jump in his Bentley after the Phillies games .
So maybe my new tagline can be “I’m richer than Lenny Dykstra”.
Any fool who would invest money with him basically got what he deserved. Most baseball players are pea-brained idiots!
This guy was a hard partier when he was with the Phillies in the mid 90’s. One could see him out in Atlanta with his buddy Kruk...they were hard core drinkers.
You are right about baseball players, they are especially dumb.
I was at that game. It doesn’t get much better in sports than that. Only the second World Series ending walk off home run in history and your home team wins it. I walked down to the field level seats after the game and saw a couple of Phillies fans and was sympathetic. I told em well you don’t see that every day.
Dykstra always was a madman......
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I believe that out of the 500 or so players in MLB, there are only 24 that have college degrees.
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