Background and career
Leonard Kyle Dykstra ( DYK-strə; 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 and convicted of various crimes, including bankruptcy fraud, money laundering, grand theft auto, uttering terroristic threats, drug possession, and indecent exposure. Dykstra has served 6+1⁄2 months in federal prison.
Lenny Dykstra was born Leonard Kyle Leswick on February 10, 1963, in Santa Ana, California. 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. Dennis Dykstra adopted Lenny. Lenny Dykstra has two brothers: Brian and Kevin. Dykstra's uncles, Pete, Jack, 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.
Dykstra was originally committed to play baseball at Arizona State University for Jim Brock but said he would sign to play professionally if drafted high enough. The Mets signed Dykstra as a 13th-round draft pick in 1981. A star in the minors, in 1983 he led the Carolina League in at-bats, runs, hits, triples, batting average and stolen bases. That season, he hit .358 with 8 HR, 81 RBI, 105 stolen bases (a league record for 17 years), 107 walks and only 35 strikeouts. He was subsequently named the Carolina League MVP, and soon emerged as one of the Mets' prized prospects. While playing in Double-A in 1984 he befriended fellow outfielder and teammate Billy Beane, who later said that Dykstra was "perfectly designed, emotionally" to play baseball and that he had "no concept of failure." According to Beane, his first comments on seeing future Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton warming up were, "Shit, I'll stick him." 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.
With Dykstra as leadoff hitter, the 1986 Mets coasted to the division crown, beating the second-place Philadelphia Phillies by 21.5 games en route to a 108–54 season. The Mets ended up in the World Series after a victory over the NL West champion Houston Astros in the 1986 NLCS, 4 games to 2. Dykstra hit a walk-off home run in Game 3, which is considered one of the biggest hits in Mets franchise history and of Dykstra's career. He hit .304 in the 1986 NLCS, and then .296 in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. His leadoff home run in Game 3 at Fenway Park sparked the Mets, who had lost the first games of the Series at home at Shea Stadium. Dykstra's leadoff home run in Game Three made him the third Met in team history (along with Tommie Agee and Wayne Garrett, both of whose home runs also came in a Game 3, in the 1969 and 1973 World Series respectively), to hit a leadoff home run in the World Series. Following Dykstra's home run, the Mets won Game 3 in blowout fashion 7–1, eventually rallying to defeat the Red Sox in seven games.
Dykstra continued to play in a platoon with Wilson. In the 1988 NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he continued his postseason success by hitting .429 in a losing effort. 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 was initially upset over the trade since he enjoyed playing in New York, but Phillies fans loved him and he soon became a fan favorite there as well. He was known for his trademark cheek full of tobacco and hard-nosed play. With the Phillies, Dykstra's career was marked by incredible highs and lows. In 1990, he started the All-Star Game, led the league in hits and finished fourth in batting average, hitting over .400 as late as June. Dykstra's next two seasons were marred by injury. In 1991, he lost two months of playing time due to injuries sustained in an alcohol-related 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 appearances). 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 National League pennant, where he hit six total home runs, which tied the major league record for a postseason that was held by Bob Robertson (this record was tied but not surpassed until 2002). In the World Series, facing the defending World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays, Dykstra batted .348 and hit four home runs, including two in a futile 15–14 loss at home in Game 4. The Phillies lost the series in six games. 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.
