Lenny Dykstra, the pride of Santa Ana known as “Nails” during an illustrious Major League Baseball career with the New York Mets in the 1980s and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1990s, details his post-career, financial free-fall in bankruptcy documents just posted by The Smoking Gun, which notes that among his remaining assets is a $10,000 German shepherd.
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After retiring from baseball in 1998 at age 35, Dykstra opened a car
wash in Corona, which led to the opening of more car
washes, “Team Dykstra” Quick Lube Centers, a Conoco Phillips fueling
facility, a real estate development company, “I Sold It on eBay”
stores, a high-end jet charter company and a magazine marketed toward
professional athletes known as Player's Club.
With his new wealth, Dykstra was able to purchase Wayne Gretzky's
$17 million estate, and the media became filled with stories about
Lenny's amazing stock-picking abilities. Among Dykstra's biggest
cheerleaders was CNBC's Jim Cramer.
There had been
bumps along the way, including a lawsuit brought by his partner in the
car wash ventures, a sexual harassment complaint by a 17-year-old girl
who worked for Dykstra and strong evidence of steroid use during his
playing days. But he was still hailed as a genius businessman up
through early this year, when evidence began mounting that Dykstra's
financial empire was in a tailspin. Allegations surfaced of credit-card
fraud and failure to pay bills. It turned out there were dozens of
legal actions filed against him.
Dykstra lost the Gretzky
house (claiming to be the victim of mortgage fraud). His wife left him,
and his brother is suing him for breach-of-contract. Enter The Smoking
Gun . . .
AUGUST
12–A month after filing for bankruptcy protection, former
baseball star Lenny Dykstra has detailed the financial wreckage in
which he is enveloped. In schedules filed this week in U.S. District
Court in California, Dykstra lists liabilities of $37.1 million and
claims assets of $24.6 million. The ex-athlete's list of creditors runs
22 pages and details debts to law firms, banks, aviation companies,
former employees, pilots, credit card companies, hotels, a chef, and
the Internal Revenue Service. Dykstra, who has fashioned himself as a
high-flying investor and stock picker, filed a statement listing his
only current income as a $5,700 monthly Major League Baseball pension
(a
copy of that schedule can be found below). Dykstra, whose 12-year
career included a World Series championship with the New York Mets and
three All-Star selections, is facing numerous lawsuits accusing him of
fraud and assorted financial impropriety. His wife Terri filed for
divorce in April, and, in late-June, his brother Kevin sued him for
breach of contract. But Dykstra is not without loyal supporters. Listed
among his personal property in the August 10 court filing is a German
shepherd valued at a whopping $10,000. It is unclear how Dykstra priced
this particular asset.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.