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Leonard Kyle Dykstra ( ; born February 10, 1963), nicknamed Nails and Dude, is an American former professional baseball center fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets (1985–1989) and Philadelphia Phillies (1989–1996). Dykstra was a three-time All-Star and won a World Series championship as a member of the 1986 Mets.
Since his retirement, Dykstra has been mired in financial and legal troubles. In 2009, he filed for bankruptcy. Since then, he has been charged with various crimes, including bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, grand theft auto, uttering terroristic threats, drug possession, and indecent exposure. Dykstra has served months in federal prison.
Dykstra's uncles, Pete Leswick, Jack Leswick, and Tony Leswick, played in the National Hockey League.
Dykstra attended Garden Grove High School in Orange County, California. During his senior year, he hit .494 with 50 hits on the season, which was just two short of the state record. He had a career total of 89 stolen bases, second best in state history at the time, and recorded a hit in all 27 games of his senior season. In both his junior and senior seasons he was named all-league, all-county, and all-state. He was named 3-A co-player of the year in 1981. In the Orange County All-Star baseball game he reached base all eight times he came to bat, earning five hits, a walk, and reaching base on two errors, and stole five bases. He also played football, where he was named 2nd team all-county and team MVP as a defensive back.
In 1985, Dykstra was promoted to the Mets when the team's starting center fielder, Mookie Wilson, was placed on the disabled list. The rookie's play and energy was a big boost to a Mets team that surged to a 98-win season, narrowly missing out on the NL East crown by 3 games to the St. Louis Cardinals. The following season, Dykstra was intended to be platooned in center field with Wilson, but took over the position as outright starter and leadoff hitter when Wilson suffered a severe eye injury during spring training. As the season progressed, Wilson began to get more playing time in left field, as the incumbent leftfielder, George Foster, was struggling, eventually getting released. This allowed Dykstra and Wilson to start in the outfield together, along with star rightfielder Darryl Strawberry. Dykstra earned the nickname "Nails" for his hard-nosed personality and fearless play. Also in 1986, Dykstra posed shirtless for a "beefcake" poster under the "Nails" nickname. Dykstra and #2 hitter Wally Backman were tagged as "The Partners in Grime" for their scrappy play as spark plugs for the star-studded Met lineup.
On June 18, 1989, the Mets traded Dykstra to the Phillies along with pitcher Roger McDowell and minor-leaguer Tom Edens in exchange for second baseman Juan Samuel. Teammate Keith Hernandez later characterized Dykstra in his book Pure Baseball as being "on the wild and crazy side", citing one of the reasons the Mets chose to trade him and the Phillies chose to acquire him.
Dykstra's next two seasons were marred by injury. In 1991, he lost two months of playing time due to injuries sustained in an auto accident. In late August, he re-broke his collarbone in Cincinnati running into the outfield wall and missed the rest of the season.
On Opening Day 1992, Dykstra was hit by a pitch that broke his hand. He played in just 145 of 324 possible games for the Phils in 1991 and 1992.
It all came together again in 1993 for Dykstra and the Phillies. The team, which had been rebuilding since its last playoff appearance ten years before, when they won the 1983 pennant but lost the World Series to Baltimore, returned to the top of the National League East and won the pennant again. He played in 161 games, setting a then major league record with 773 plate appearances (overtaken in 2007 by Jimmy Rollins' 778 plate apperances). Despite being overlooked for the 1993 All-Star team he led the league in runs, hits, walks and at-bats, and was runner-up to the Giants' Barry Bonds in voting for NL Most Valuable Player. He led the Phillies into the World Series, which they lost to the defending World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays in six games. In the series, Dykstra batted .348 and hit four , including two in a futile 15–14 loss at home in Game 4.
In October 2015, Dykstra told Colin Cowherd that beginning in 1993, he paid a team of private investigators $500,000 to dig up dirt on MLB umpires. He used the information, he said, to leverage a more favorable strike zone during games. He said it was not a coincidence that he led the majors in walks in 1993, going from 40 in 392 plate appearances in 1992 to 129 in 773 plate appearances the following year. In 1994, Dykstra walked 68 times in 386 plate appearances. Dykstra's claim of blackmailing umpires was met with considerable skepticism.
Dykstra went on to play in two more All-Star games, in 1994 and 1995.
Dykstra purchased NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky's $17 million estate (built at a cost of $14,999,999) hoping to flip it; however, this endeavor was unsuccessful. The house was eventually sold in January 2011 for "an undisclosed amount".
In September 2008, Dykstra began a high-end jet charter company and magazine marketed to professional athletes known as the Player's Club, LLC. The magazine was part of a business plan to offer financial advice to professional athletes, according to a profile article in The New Yorker magazine.
In early 2009, stories and evidence began to emerge indicating that Dykstra's financial empire was in a tailspin. A GQ article by Kevin P. 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. Coughlin detailed incidents and accused Dykstra of credit card fraud, failure to pay rent on the magazine's Park Avenue offices or for , lawsuits, and printing costs.
In March 2009, press reports alleged that Dykstra's businesses were facing financial ruin. They also alleged that he had used offensive terms when speaking about black people, women, and homosexuals.
An extensive ESPN article published in April 2009 asserted that Dykstra had been the subject of at least two dozen legal actions since 2007.
On June 28, 2016, Dykstra released an autobiography titled House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge. House of Nails landed at No. 11 on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for July 17, 2016.
On October 5, 2016, Dykstra and Rebound Finance, a credit referral company, announced their partnership. The partnership is still ongoing with Dykstra acting as the brand's ambassador. According to a press release published by Rebound Finance, the main goal of the partnership is to "provide hard working Americans with the credit they deserve."
On June 28, 2016, Dykstra appeared on The Howard Stern Show for the first stop on his promotional tour for his bestselling book House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge and to discuss his sexual conquests. Dykstra also revealed that he is a gigolo for elderly women.
On July 27, 2016, Dykstra appeared on Larry King Now to discuss his book, his MLB career, his use of steroids, and his close friendship with Charlie Sheen.
On November 28, 2016, Dykstra returned to The Howard Stern Show, bringing with him two women to verify the claims he made during his first visit in June. Dykstra also promoted his partnership with Rebound Finance.
Then, on December 17, 2019, Dykstra returned again to The Howard Stern Show playing on Stern's "Hollyweird Squares" game.
In 1999, he was arrested for sexual harassment of a 17-year-old girl who worked at his car wash. The criminal charges were later dropped.
Dykstra was sued in relation to his 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 that pennant-winning team. He denied those allegations, Ex-biz partner alleges Dykstra took steroids and HGH ESPN.com but other accusations of steroid use also surfaced.
Dykstra, whose net worth was estimated at $58 million in 2008, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2009, listing less than $50,000 in assets against $10 million to $50 million in liabilities. He claimed to be a victim of mortgage fraud after he lost the house he purchased from Wayne Gretzky to foreclosure. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company provided Dykstra and his wife with a temporary residence pending resolution of the outstanding claim. According to papers filed in court, one of Dykstra's houses was in "unshowable" condition as "the home was littered throughout with empty beer bottles, trash, dog feces and urine, and other unmentionables." Raw sewage had been leaking inside the house, and electrical wiring had been damaged or removed by vandals.
On October 6, 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported that Dykstra's World Series ring had been auctioned off for $56,762 "to help pay the former major-leaguer's $31 million debt."Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, pg D8 On November 20, 2009, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate the estate and pay creditors.
In September 2009, Dykstra was banned from both of his foreclosed multimillion-dollar properties in Lake Sherwood. He was accused of vandalizing the properties and failing to maintain homeowners' insurance on them, and the court assigned a trustee to manage them.
In June 2010, a court-appointed federal trustee in Dykstra's bankruptcy case charged he had lied under oath, improperly hidden and sold assets, and repeatedly acted "in a fraudulent and deceitful manner" during his ongoing bankruptcy case. The trustee accordingly asked the bankruptcy court to deny Dykstra's request for a bankruptcy discharge.
In December 2010, adult entertainment star and escort Monica Foster claimed Dykstra had hired her on December 13, 2010, and had paid her with a bad check.
In January 2011, Dykstra was accused of sexual assault by his housekeeper. She alleged that he had forced her to perform oral sex on him. The woman told investigators "she needed the job and the money, so she went along with the suspect's requests rather than lose her job".
In April 2011, the Los Angeles Police Department Commercial Crimes Division arrested Dykstra on separate grand theft charges related to the purchase of vehicles. He was held on $500,000 bail. On April 13, 2011, Dykstra was arrested for investigation of grand theft by Los Angeles police at his Encino home on suspicion of trying to buy a stolen car, the day after Dykstra, in an unrelated federal complaint, had been charged with embezzlement from a bankruptcy estate. He faced up to five years in federal prison if convicted. Federal prosecutors contended that after filing for bankruptcy Dykstra hid, sold, or destroyed more than $400,000 worth of items from the $18.5 million mansion in question without permission of a bankruptcy trustee.
In May 2011, Dykstra was sentenced to house arrest after his bankruptcy fraud indictment. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he was allowed to leave the house only to go to work, attend church, or undergo mandatory drug testing. On June 13, 2011, Dykstra appeared in federal bankruptcy court and pleaded not guilty to 13 charges. He was represented by a public defender. Dykstra faced up to 80 years in prison if convicted of all charges relating to embezzlement, obstruction of justice, bankruptcy fraud, making false statements to bankruptcy court, and concealing property from the bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy fraud trial was set to start on June 5, 2012.Order, January 27, 2012, docket entry 61, United States v. Lenny Kyle Dykstra, case no. 2:11-cr-00415-DDP, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles Div.).
On June 6, 2011, Dykstra was arrested and charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, identity theft, filing false financial statements and possession of cocaine, MDMA and the human growth hormone (HGH) known as somatropin. He first pleaded not guilty to the charges, but later changed his plea to no contest to grand theft auto and providing false financial statements in exchange for getting the drug charges dropped."How Lenny Dykstra Got Nailed" by David Epstein, Sports Illustrated, March 12, 2012, p. 50. On March 5, 2012, after unsuccessfully trying to withdraw his nolo-contendere plea, he was sentenced to three years in state prison, receiving nearly a year's credit for time already served.
On August 25, 2011, Dykstra was charged with indecent exposure. The Los Angeles City Attorney accused him of placing ads on Craigslist requesting a personal assistant or housekeeping services. The victims alleged that when they arrived, they were informed that the job also required massage service and that Dykstra then exposed himself to them. He was given a nine-month sentence for lewd conduct.
On July 13, 2012, Dykstra pleaded guilty in federal court to three felonies: one count each of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets, and money laundering. He admitted to hiding, selling, or destroying over $400,000 worth of items that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing. On December 3, 2012, he was sentenced to six-and-a-half months in prison and 500 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution.
Dykstra was released from the federal penitentiary in Victorville, California, in June 2013 after serving six-and-a-half months of his sentence for the bankruptcy fraud and money laundering charges, which ran concurrently with the grand theft auto and false financial statements charges. As part of his release, he was required to serve three years of supervised release (including 500 hours of community service), enroll in a substance abuse program, submit to drug testing, and pay $200,000 to his creditors. Dykstra finished his probation in April 2014 and had undergone weekly drug testing.
On May 23, 2018, Dykstra was arrested for drug possession and for uttering terroristic threats. He allegedly held a gun to his Uber driver after the driver refused to change destinations. On October 10, 2018, Dykstra was indicted by a New Jersey grand jury on these charges.
In his book 108 Stitches, former Dykstra teammate Ron Darling alleged that Dykstra hurled racist taunts at Red Sox pitcher Oil Can Boyd from the on-deck circle during the 1986 World Series. Dykstra publicly and vociferously denied the story and was publicly supported in his denial by former teammates Dwight Gooden, Kevin Mitchell, Darryl Strawberry and Wally Backman. Dykstra sued Darling for defamation in April 2020 but the case was dismissed on June 1, 2020, with the judge citing Dykstra's documented reputation as being "among other things, racist, misogynist and anti-gay, as well as a sexual predator, a drug-abuser, a thief and an embezzler" as the reason.
Cutter Dykstra was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, and played in the Washington Nationals organization until being released on June 14, 2016. Through Cutter's relationship with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Dykstra has two grandsons. Luke Dykstra was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the seventh round of the 2014 MLB Draft and last played for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball in 2018.
In 2014, Dykstra lived with his ex-wife, Terri, who said that she had no plans to remarry him.
As of Summer 2024, Dykstra lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
In Randall Lane's book The Zeroes, Dykstra admitted in his hotel room to Lane, editor of Trader Monthly, that he used steroids to perform better than those he felt might replace him; otherwise, his $25 million would be "on the line".
On December 20, 2007, Dykstra was also named in former MLB pitcher Jason Grimsley's unsealed affidavit as an alleged user of steroids.
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