Lenny Dykstra
Leonard Kyle Dykstra (/ˈdaɪkstrə/ DYK-strə; born February 10, 1963) 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 retirement, Dykstra has been mired in financial and legal troubles. In 2009, he filed for bankruptcy. In 2011, he was arrested and charged with bankruptcy fraud, followed by grand theft auto and drug possession charges on an unrelated case, as well as indecent exposure. He served 6+1⁄2 months in federal prison.
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Early life and family[edit]
Lenny Dykstra was born Leonard Kyle Leswick[1] on February 10, 1963,[2] in Santa Ana, California.[3] Dykstra's father, Terry Leswick, abandoned the family when Dykstra was four years of age. Dykstra's mother, Marilyn, later married Dennis Dykstra, a phone company employee.[4] Dennis Dykstra adopted Lenny.[1] Lenny Dykstra has two brothers: Brian and Kevin.[5]
Dykstra's uncles, Pete, Jack, and Tony Leswick played in the National Hockey League.[6]
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.[7] He was named 3-A co-player of the year in 1981.[8] 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.[9] He also played football, where he was named 2nd team all-county and team MVP as a defensive back.[10]
Legal issues[edit]
In 1991, Dykstra crashed his red Mercedes-Benz SL 500[41] into a tree on Darby-Paoli Road in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, after attending the bachelor party of Phillies teammate John Kruk. Dykstra suffered broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken facial bone, in addition to second-degree burns on his left arm and lower back. Darren Daulton, also a teammate, was a passenger in the car at the time; his injuries included an injured eye and a broken facial bone. According to Radnor Township Police, Dykstra's blood alcohol content was measured at 0.179% shortly after the crash, over double the legal limit of 0.08% in the state.[42] Dykstra was charged with "driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding and reckless driving".[43]
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.[44]
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,[45] but other accusations of steroid use also surfaced.[46]
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.[47][48] Fireman's Fund Insurance Company provided Dykstra and his wife with a temporary residence pending resolution of the outstanding claim.[49] 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.[50][51]
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."[52] On November 20, 2009, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate the estate and pay creditors.[53]
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.[54]
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.[55]
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.[56]
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".[57]
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.[58] 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 embezzling 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.[59]
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.[60] On June 13, 2011, Dykstra appeared in federal bankruptcy court and pleaded not guilty to 13 charges. He was represented by a public defender.[61] 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.[62] The bankruptcy fraud trial was set to start on June 5, 2012.[63]
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, ecstasy and the human growth hormone (HGH) known as somatropin.[64] 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.[65][66] On March 5, 2012, after unsuccessfully trying to withdraw his nolo-contendere plea, he was sentenced to three years in state prison,[66] receiving nearly a year's credit for time already served.[66]
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.[67] He was given a nine-month sentence for lewd conduct.[68]
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.[69] 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.[70][71]
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.[72] 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.[73] Dykstra finished his probation in April 2014 and had undergone weekly drug testing.[74]
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.[75] On October 10, 2018, Dykstra was indicted by a New Jersey grand jury on these charges.[76]
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.[77] 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.[78][79][80][81] 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.[82]
Personal life[edit]
Family[edit]
Dykstra married wife, Terri, in 1985. Lenny and Terri Dykstra have two sons, Cutter and Luke; Lenny also adopted Terri's son, Gavin, from a prior relationship.[83] Terri Dykstra filed for divorce in April 2009.[84][85]
Cutter Dykstra was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft,[86][87] and played in the Washington Nationals organization until being released on June 14, 2016.[88] Through Cutter's relationship with actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler,[89] Dykstra has two grandsons.[90] 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.[91]
As of August 2014, Dykstra lived with his ex-wife, Terri, who said that she had no plans to remarry him.[74]
Mitchell Report; steroid use[edit]
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, as stating that Dykstra had used anabolic steroids during his MLB career.[93] It also stated that the Commissioner of Baseball's office had known about Dykstra's steroid use since 2000. Dykstra did not agree to meet with the Mitchell investigators to discuss the allegations.[94]
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.[95]