Christopher Frankie - Nailed!: The Improbable Rise and Spectacular Fall of Lenny Dykstra

THE IMPROBABLE RISE

AND SPECTACULAR FALL OF

LENNY DYKSTRA

CHRISTOPHER FRANKIE

RUNNING PRESS

PHILADELPHIA LONDON

2013 by Christopher Frankie

Cover photo: Rick Stewart/Getty Images

Published by Running Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013930105

E-book ISBN 978-0-7624-4828-9

987654321
Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Design by Joshua McDonnell
Edited by Geoffrey Stone
Typography: Akzidenz, Bembo

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FOR EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME TELL THIS
AMAZING AND COMPLICATED STORY. I COULDNT
HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU.

In 1986, as a nine-year-old Mets fan, I only dreamed of getting a phone call from Lenny Nails Dykstra. By late 2008, I dreaded it. My childhood hero had become my boss, and for a very long nine months I witnessed his devastating real-life, late-inning collapse.

But Nailed! isnt just about the nosediveits a view from inside the cockpit of Dykstras meteoric ascent, his battle to stay airborne, and the violent internal turbulence that ultimately tore the wings from the plane years before the fuselage hit the ground.

Its also an entertainingly forensic account of Dykstra, the embodiment of the Little Engine That Could, from his fight out of the middle beginning at birth in 1963 to his court appearances, incarceration, and convictions in 2012.

This true American tragedy recounts how one of the most memorable sports icons of my generation sold his soul with the help of some unscrupulous characters and, little by little, how dangerously close I came to losing mine without even knowing it. Nailed! details the two Lenny Dykstras I came to knowgood Lenny and bad Lennyand how the distance between those extremes grew wider than the Grand Canyon.

My small part in this crazy tale began in 2008 when I resigned from my job as managing editor at Money-Media, a unit of the Financial Times, to accept a job working with Dykstra through an established company. I quickly ended up working for Dykstra directly in his all-consuming, 24/7 world as his personal ghostwriter, editor, New York office manager, and right-hand man.

Ex-NBA star Charles Barkley once told the world, I am not a role model, and as an adult I knew Dykstra wasnt eitherat least outside the lines. His outrageous behavior and steroid abuse were no secret. I knew he was no Boy Scout when I took the job, but I also knew there was more to the man known as Nails than his public image suggested. He had reinvented himself not once, but twicefirst as a car wash kingpin and then again as a stock market savant and sidekick to Jim Cramer, the biggest name in Wall Street entertainment.

I respected his resilience, determination, and uncanny ability to break through barriers and sniff out a buck. He had made more money after he retired from Major League Baseball than he ever did slipping on the stirrups, and the sky seemed to be the limit. Working for him was a risk, but one with a potentially huge payoff. I knew I would never forgive myself if I passed up this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

However, I didnt quite comprehend at the time what I was getting myself into and how difficult it would be to escape. For many months I was stuckno really good options and no clear way out. I did eventually get out when I walked away from Dykstra and the substantial debt he owed me in late 2008. It was clear Dykstra was a sinking ship, and much more than his being a financial wreck, I knew he was heading for troublereal troubleand I was powerless to do anything about it.

The redeeming qualities that first made me trust him were buried beneath severe, toxic paranoia, apparent substance abuse, reckless abandon, and a complete detachment from reality. It was only a matter of time, I suspected, before he would end up in jail... or worse.

Thats why my decision to write this book was not an easy one. I had told Dykstra anecdotes to friends and family over countless dinners, drinks, and car rides. The reaction was always laughter, astonishment, uncomfortable squirming, or a combination of all three. Those stories were fun to tell and retell. Then there were the others. Because I knew Dykstra personally and because parts of this story were incredibly sad, I was conflicted.

Plus, I knew if I were to write this bookand do it rightI would have to face some uncomfortable subjects. Many of my decisions and actions would be printed on these pages for all to judge. More than a few people would be unhappy with their portrayal in this book. And at certain points I would also have to publicly defend Lenny Dykstra at a time when its extremely unpopular to do so.

But in the end, I knew this story would be told, and I had to be the one to tell it if it were to be complete. My unique experience and insiders perspective made me one of the only people on the planet who knew the intricacies of this surprisingly complex story about an unusual and deceptively intelligent fallen star. I wanted to humanize Dykstra beyond the cartoon character created in the press. Plus, I wanted the whole story to be toldnot just the narrative created by reporters and television show producers who labeled Dykstra a golden god in 2008 only to rebrand him as a buffoon and the devil incarnate a few months later. The truth, of course, is somewhere in between and much more nuanced.

To tell that story, I knew I couldnt just tell my story. I turned to my journalistic roots to meticulously craft and document the pages that follow. Rather than just a firsthand account, Nailed! is a well-researched, fact-based story that provides you, the reader, with my insights plus the benefit of additional perspectives that I didnt have at the time in order to paint a fuller picture of the events unfolding around me and Dykstra.

To do that, I interviewed more than seventy-five of Dykstras teammates, coaches, employees, reporters, law enforcement officials, victims, friends, and family. I reviewed thousands of court documents, e-mails, news articles, text messages, and videos. I also relied on my personal experience and on entries in an electronic journal I updated sporadically in 2008.

In this tale, fact truly is stranger than fiction. Life is a journey. Enjoy the read.

It all seems so surreal now. The multimillion-dollar palace on the mountaintop. The luxurious private jets. And most of all, working side by side with my childhood hero, legend Lenny Nails Dykstra, pulling all-nighters fueled by $70 ice cream sundaes, Twizzlers, and root beer.