Everybody Loves Lenny, But The Dude Seems Like He’s Dying
In the past week, Lenny Dykstra’s popped back on the radar thanks to a bizarre, unnerving HBO Real Sports episode in which reporter Bernard Goldberg attempts to figure out just how in the world The Dude became a financial wizard worth millions. Goldberg seems in awe of Dykstra not because of his business acumen, but because he just can’t believe this slurring, cursing, rumply former baseball player who actively hates reading can possibly be smarter than he is. You can’t really blame him for thinking that way.
The New Yorker also makes an attempt to solve the riddle of Dykstra this week, devoting 5,500 words to his haphazard hustler/businessman lifestyle and his first foray into magazine publishing. The author, Ben McGrath, also points out something that was blatantly obvious in the HBO special but not addressed:
His hands tremble, his back hurts, and his speech, like that of an insomniac or a stroke victim, lags slightly behind his mind. He winks without obvious intent. In his playing days, he had a term for people like this: fossils. Nothing about his physical presence any longer suggests nails, and sometimes, as if in joking recognition of this softening, he answers the phone by saying, “Thumbtacks.”
So, has anybody asked what is wrong with him? Is it years of past hard living, or a new problem that’s making him act like a stroke victim? Is it some sort of combination of fast food, too much caffeine, too much back medication, and an obsession with money that’s causing Lenny Dykstra to physically deteriorate before everyone’s eyes?
Even the New Yorker profile seems to soft-pedal Dykstra’s health; physically, mentally, socially, the man’s a mess. Regardless of how well he knows how to buy underpriced real estate or pick out a Bolivian stock, it seems there’s something else in his life that’s completely destroying him. It’s an interesting, quirky little feel-good story trying to figure out how he got so rich. In a couple of years, it might not matter one bit.
Nails never fails [The New Yorker]
March 18th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Two words: dip withdrawl.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:14 am
i have all the answers to your comments and questions. i am his brother who lenny has screwed over in the car washes, and know one knows how he has chosen money over family. if you want a big league story, let me know. if you dont, then you will here about it in court and or the media.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Lenny always had that type of speech, that is just Lenny getting older and living in a body destroyed by playing tough baseball and living with a bad back. In regards to the comments I have read in numerous blogs about Lenny “divorcing” his family, to me it looks like the family, “brother and business partner” were living quite well because of their brother and friends’ fame & fortune. They were not complaining when they were living like major league stars, driving nice cars and traveling all over the world, but now that they need to get real jobs their bitterness is going to come out.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
That is right, Lenny took care of the brother and friend for a long time, and they always had the new bmws and lived like celebrities. With Lenny gone they came back down and get real jobs. Lenny did what anyone would do in same situation. Take care them but enough is enough.