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[Ex-ballplayer Lenny] Dykstra Done In By Debts
Forbes ^ | 7/9/2009 | Steve Schaefer,

Posted on 07/10/2009 11:25:23 PM PDT by bruinbirdman

Former Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra filed for bankruptcy in California Tuesday. The 46-year-old, who made a name for himself in the investment community and as publisher of a failed magazine after his playing career, claimed just $50,000 in assets against $10 million to $50 million in liabilities.

When the ex-ballplayer hosted a lavish launch party at New York's Mandarin Oriental Hotel in April 2008, he was probably already in debt. Before a year was out, Dykstra was scrambling to hold off the creditors nipping at his heels. In March 2009, foreclosure papers were filed on the $18.5 million Thousand Oaks, Calif. mansion Dykstra bought from Wayne Gretzky, and reports said his Gulfstream II airplane was impounded in Cleveland earlier this year after he failed to pay $228,000 for interior renovations.

Dykstra was facing a number of lawsuits at the time of the bankruptcy filing, several tied to his activities as publisher of The Players Club, a glossy magazine he launched in 2008 designed to provide financial advice and opportunities to professional athletes. Among the creditors listed in the bankruptcy filing were Creel Printing and Doubledown Media, two companies that helped Dykstra create and publish the ill-fated magazine.

By the time the first issue hit clubhouses and locker rooms, Dykstra was already in litigation with Doubledown, suing for breach of contract after the company withheld the second issue for lack of payments. Doubledown quickly countersued, charging Dykstra with failing to pay $787,000 in expenses for which he was liable. A claim from Doubledown for $350,000 is listed in Dykstra's bankruptcy filing.

In addition to his magazine-related debts, Dykstra owes a number of banks and lenders money, according to the filing, and even some of the lawyers hired to defend him appear to have been stiffed; a

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
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1 posted on 07/10/2009 11:25:23 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: bruinbirdman

3 posted on 07/10/2009 11:31:04 PM PDT by Andy from Beaverton (I'm so anti-pc, I use a Mac)
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To: bruinbirdman

Cramer hired this guy to write investment advice columns on TheStreet.com


4 posted on 07/10/2009 11:37:25 PM PDT by Chet 99
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To: Chet 99
Cramer hired this guy to write investment advice columns on TheStreet.com

LD was on TV a few weeks ago. CNBC? No mention of financial troubles and touted his financial savvy!

5 posted on 07/10/2009 11:59:18 PM PDT by ColdWater
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To: ColdWater
I watched Dykstra play for the Mets as a season ticket holder. I liked him a lot but I would never in a million years have guessed he would claim financial savvy.
6 posted on 07/11/2009 12:04:51 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper (...and never forget that!)
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To: ColdWater

Has Cramer EVER backed a financial winner?


7 posted on 07/11/2009 12:05:57 AM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: bruinbirdman

There’s a good lesson.


8 posted on 07/11/2009 12:06:31 AM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote)
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To: ColdWater

You’d get better investment advice from a Chimp flinging poo at the stock pages than the clowns on CNBC.


9 posted on 07/11/2009 12:07:11 AM PDT by Chet 99
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To: bruinbirdman

1) Don’t take financial advice from a baseball player.

2) Don’t take financial advice from someone who lives in an $18.5 million house... unless, of course, he’s definitely up around or in the self-made billionaire league.


10 posted on 07/11/2009 12:31:27 AM PDT by john in springfield (One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe such things.No ordinary man could be such a fool.)
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To: Richard Kimball

Probably not. And let’s not forget his admission that he and others used their position to manipulate Apple stock. If they did it with AAPL, you know they did it with others.


11 posted on 07/11/2009 12:54:20 AM PDT by Terpfen (Ain't over yet, folks. Those 2004 Senate gains are up for grabs in 2 years.)
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To: bruinbirdman
I remember this guy as a player but I didn't know he was in the financial business.

One thing I've never never understood about some athletes is the way they go through money. They should understand that they only have a few years to make the money they do. Most Pro athletes retire in their 30's. And those are the sucessful ones. They aren't going to make a lot of money after that. If this guy made over 30 million in his career, just conservative investments would have him set for life with a very good standard of living. This guy must have got greedy.
12 posted on 07/11/2009 1:20:23 AM PDT by truthguy (Good intentions are not enough!)
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To: bruinbirdman

this guy was living way beyond his means


13 posted on 07/11/2009 1:21:06 AM PDT by wardaddy (Proudly Anti-Abortion, not and will never be Pro-Life...........Sarah Palin, there is no substitute)
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To: bruinbirdman

btw...media hates him because he was once accused of some racist slur....same old crap

sports writers are the biggest PC buttkissers on the planet

just look at the forehead caker on MSNBC


14 posted on 07/11/2009 1:22:24 AM PDT by wardaddy (Proudly Anti-Abortion, not and will never be Pro-Life...........Sarah Palin, there is no substitute)
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To: truthguy

people who like to make money just don’t make money and quit....and live on investments

it’s more than that...it’s a mindset

plenty of big players like Murdoch for example still bet the farm


15 posted on 07/11/2009 1:23:57 AM PDT by wardaddy (Proudly Anti-Abortion, not and will never be Pro-Life...........Sarah Palin, there is no substitute)
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To: john in springfield
3) Never take financial advice from anyone who spits tobacco and then adjusts his family jewels with one hand, while holding a stick in the other hand.

Or..." You might be a redneck!”

16 posted on 07/11/2009 1:30:19 AM PDT by Semper Mark (Third World trickle up poverty, will lead to cascading Third World tyranny.)
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To: wardaddy

Yes, I think you are right. It’s not the way a conservative guy like me thinks but then again I’m not that rich.


17 posted on 07/11/2009 1:33:34 AM PDT by truthguy (Good intentions are not enough!)
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To: truthguy

you mean conservative with money...that is not always the same as conservative politically

you’re still young...you got time


18 posted on 07/11/2009 1:34:53 AM PDT by wardaddy (Proudly Anti-Abortion, not and will never be Pro-Life...........Sarah Palin, there is no substitute)
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To: ColdWater
LD was on TV a few weeks ago. CNBC? No mention of financial troubles and touted his financial savvy!

He was on HBO's sport's show (forgot name, with Bryan Gumbel).

It was ALL about his financial problems and his schemes to get his next multimillion deal going. Latest one was to buy and lease out a fleet of corporate jets.

The interview took place in his $18 million house — with NO furniture, just a desk and a bed). He kept repeating "F.#k 'em" as far as those suing him and how his next fortune was just around the corner. The man looked like a delusional idiot.

19 posted on 07/11/2009 3:15:09 AM PDT by Jackson Brown
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To: truthguy

I remember a Suze Orman (no I don’t normally watch her) segment in which a young NFL linebacker and his wife were on to discuss their finances and determine if they could afford a third house. Suze denied them, and the wife gave a killer look like she wanted to rip Suze’s throat out.

Sorry about Dykstra. He was actually in my class in 9th grade before I moved away from Garden Grove, CA.


20 posted on 07/11/2009 5:17:30 AM PDT by exhaustguy
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