If there was any justice in the world, Lenny Dykstra would still be in prison.
The former Mets and Phillies outfielder was first exposed for the slimeball he is in a lengthy ESPN article by Mike Fish in 2009. In the very first scene of that piece, Dykstra openly refers to President Barack Obama as a “spearchucker” in front of Fish, which provides a pretty accurate portrayal of Dykstra’s invincible attitude at the time.
In short, Dykstra has been sued literally dozens of times by just about entity he worked with while trying to publish his Players Club magazine, repeatedly breaking his end of the bargain on his business deals. After the magazine fell flat and his reputation as a “financial guru” died down, Dykstra was charged with grand theft auto and drug possession, then exposing himself to a woman and was later (finally) sent to California state prison for knowingly misrepresenting his finances to the court during the grand theft auto trial. Dykstra served about a year of a three-year sentence.
The near-infinite misdeeds of Dykstra are too long for this post, but if you’re interested you can read about them in the book Nailed!: The Improbable Rise and Spectacular Fall of Lenny Dykstra, written by former magazine employee Christopher Frankie.
In any case, Dykstra was said to be released from prison in June, and Tuesday gave his first interview to the “vodcast” FYI Sports Talk. Chatting with former big-league hosts Robert Fick and Dmitri Young, Dykstra recalled his prison redemption story — which includes everything except a conversion to Islam.
“In a crazy way, going to prison when I did — I didn’t want to, trust me — it actually kind of made me realize what’s important,” Dykstra said. “I’m not recommending anybody go to prison to find your life, but to me, it was rock bottom.”
Check out everything Dykstra had to say in the video below. Just take it all with a hefty grain of salt.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@SamMonroy
