Lenny Dykstra was drafted by the New York Mets in 1981. He made his MLB debut in 1985. A few years later when he played for the Philadelphia Phillies he was paying private investigators to gather dirt on the league's umpires so he could get favorable calls when he was at the plate.
Dykstra, 52, told Colin Cowherd on "The Herd" yesterday that he used a good chunk of his earnings to get the calls he wanted by putting fear into various umpires based on what he heard about them off the field.
"I heard stories. You used to keep a book on umpires? You were very smart that way," Cowherd said.
"I did a little more than that," Dykstra responded. "I said, 'I need these umpires.' So what did I do? I pulled out a half-million bucks and hired a private investigation team to follow them. Their blood is just as red as ours. Some of them like women, some of them like men, some of them gamble."
"So you had PIs tracking umpires throughout your career, or just for a few years?"
"No, only when I got the money, or was trying to get the money. It wasn't a coincidence that I led the league in walks the next year, was it?"
Check out the entire interview below:
Dykstra led the MLB in walks (129) as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1993. He batted .305/.420/.482 with 143 runs scored (also led league), 19 home runs, 66 RBI and 37 stolen bases that year as well.
However, TMZ Sports talked to four former MLB umpires - Greg Bonin, Larry Barnett, Jerry Layne and Paul Runge - all of whom refuted the notion that Dykstra was able to successfully execute such an operation to help himself get on base more and see better pitches.
Nonetheless, Dykstra was and still is a controversial figure. He admitted to doing steroids, he was sentenced to six-and-a-half months in prison for bankruptcy fraud, he was arrested for grand theft auto, and was addicted to drugs.
Whether it's true or not, it all makes for a good story.
