Former MLB player Lenny Dykstra claims he blackmailed umpires | Fox News

 

Lenny Dykstra says his prodigious walk totals didn’t come from a great eye, but hiring great private eyes.

 

The former Met told Fox’s Colin Cowherd that – in his effort to get a huge contract – he spent $500,000 to hire private investigators to turn up dirt on Major League Baseball umpires, and then used that intel to coerce them into giving him a favorable strike zone.

 

“I said I need the umpires, [so] what do I do? I just pulled out half a million bucks and hired a private investigate team to follow them,’’ said Dykstra, who won the 1986 World Series with the Mets

 

“Their blood is just a red as ours. Some of them like women, some of them like men, some of them gamble, some of them do whatever.’’

 

The former outfielder – drafted by the Mets in 1981, and with the Amazin’s through 1989 – said he made the outlandish decision when he was trying to score a big contract while with the Phillies. After injury-plagued seasons in 1991 and ’92, he led the National League in runs, walks and at-bats the next season, finishing second to Barry Bonds in the NL MVP race.

 

Cowherd asked Dykstra whether he ever threatened umpires, and the player responded that it wasn’t needed.

 

“Fear does a lot to a man. (I’d ask) did you cover last night? They’d call a strike. Oh, I don’t think you heard me. Did you cover the spread last night?” said Dykstra, pantomiming a strike zone suddenly shrinking to a minuscule size.

 

“I had to do what I had to do to win and to support my family.’’

There has to be an unwritten rule somewhere about not blackmailing the umpires.

Wow...that's crazy...can that be true?

There has to be an unwritten rule somewhere about not blackmailing the umpires.

Boom...you just won the thread!!!

Is anyone shocked that it's Lenny Dykstra we're talking about here?

I was watching this interview yesterday and don't believe much of anything he said.

I was watching this interview yesterday and don't believe much of anything he said.

 

I get the whole "you catch a crook with a crook" thinking but I'm with you. Zero credibility and a proven loser in life.

Someone call Jose Canseco and verify this story.

I don't buy it either. Why wouldn't an umpire just go directly to the director of security for MLB, and tell them Dykstra was trying to blackmail them?

I don't buy it either. Why wouldn't an umpire just go directly to the director of security for MLB, and tell them Dykstra was trying to blackmail them?

 

Just from reading the opening post because either they were married, were in the closet, weren't permitted to gamble or all of the above!

For some dumb reason, I thought Dykstra had already died. Don't know where I got that from. :lol2:

Just from reading the opening post because either they were married, were in the closet, weren't permitted to gamble or all of the above!

 

Dykstra had way more to lose if they threatened to go to security about him blackmailing them.

Dykstra had way more to lose if they threatened to go to security about him blackmailing them.

 

Not really, not if it cost an Ump his job. Dykstra would have had plausible deniability and still be rich, the Ump would be out of a job and shamed publically.

Although Dykstra is a train wreck, I believe he may be telling the truth - he may be embellishing it some but I would not be surprised if the main points are true. The fact that he isn't telling this by selling a book gives it more credibility to me.

Dykstra's brother was a minor league umpire for a few years in the 90's