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Nailed!: The Improbable Rise and Spectacular Fall of Lenny Dykstra
Nailed! is a dramatic biography of Lenny Dykstra-the heroic center fielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in the '80s and '90s whose gritty play earned him the nickname “Nails.” Dykstra's unlikely post-baseball rise in the business world is a success story that is only matched by the sordid tale of his ultimate downfall.
From famously receiving financial guru Jim Cramer's ringing endorsement as “one of the best” stock prognosticators, to hanging out with Charlie Sheen and numerous prostitutes, to holding court in his 15 million California home, Dykstra lived a highflying lifestyle. He was the toast of the business world before his litany of crimes were detected and his empire began to unravel in 2009, leading to a conviction and prison sentence in 2012 with more charges pending.
Through compelling storytelling supported by extensive research and documentation-including interviews with many of Dykstra's friends, family, and business associates-Nailed! Peels back the layers of this onion to reveal that the criminal charges of grand theft auto, identity theft, vandalism, lewd behavior, sexual assault, and more are just the tip of the iceberg. This is an engaging read of a sports and business hero gone bad.
From famously receiving financial guru Jim Cramer's ringing endorsement as “one of the best” stock prognosticators, to hanging out with Charlie Sheen and numerous prostitutes, to holding court in his 15 million California home, Dykstra lived a highflying lifestyle. He was the toast of the business world before his litany of crimes were detected and his empire began to unravel in 2009, leading to a conviction and prison sentence in 2012 with more charges pending.
Through compelling storytelling supported by extensive research and documentation-including interviews with many of Dykstra's friends, family, and business associates-Nailed! Peels back the layers of this onion to reveal that the criminal charges of grand theft auto, identity theft, vandalism, lewd behavior, sexual assault, and more are just the tip of the iceberg. This is an engaging read of a sports and business hero gone bad.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 30, 2013
At the beginning, Lenny Dykstra was playing in World Series with the Mets and Phillies. By the end he was paying for hookers with checks that bounced. In between he was scamming pretty much anyone who said his name out of thousands of dollars. Eventually Dykstra went to jail. He was just released a week or so ago after serving about six months, so you wonder if he learned his lesson.
This book is filled with stories about Dyktra's bizarre behavior in his after-baseball life, where first he was hailed as a stock-market savant, then tried to create an empire around a magazine directed at helping athletes protect their money and navigate the lifestyle big-money contracts avoid them. The author worked for Dykstra longer than anyone else and has plenty of anecdotes about late-night meetings. There's Dykstra farting in the faces of employees (who almost never received paychecks). There's Dykstra skipping out on restaurant tabs and leaving his underlings to pay for them. There's Dykstra running up a $27K bill on his mother's credit card and never paying. There are so many stories of Dykstra's sociopathy that the book becomes repetitive after awhile. It's heavy on what Dykstra did, but light on why he did it. It's very thorough and very detailed, but very dry.
If you want to know what Dykstra did, this is where to find out. If you want to know why he turned into this type of person, look elsewhere.
This book is filled with stories about Dyktra's bizarre behavior in his after-baseball life, where first he was hailed as a stock-market savant, then tried to create an empire around a magazine directed at helping athletes protect their money and navigate the lifestyle big-money contracts avoid them. The author worked for Dykstra longer than anyone else and has plenty of anecdotes about late-night meetings. There's Dykstra farting in the faces of employees (who almost never received paychecks). There's Dykstra skipping out on restaurant tabs and leaving his underlings to pay for them. There's Dykstra running up a $27K bill on his mother's credit card and never paying. There are so many stories of Dykstra's sociopathy that the book becomes repetitive after awhile. It's heavy on what Dykstra did, but light on why he did it. It's very thorough and very detailed, but very dry.
If you want to know what Dykstra did, this is where to find out. If you want to know why he turned into this type of person, look elsewhere.
April 9, 2023
I’m sure anyone contemplating reading this book already knows who Lenny Dykstra **WAS**… and I can’t emphasize the word *WAS* more. There is very little about his playing career in this sordid story… and there absolutely should not be any more of the short glory days that Dykstra experienced with the Mets and Phillies in this book. It wouldn’t matter if Dykstra’s playing career had doubled Babe Ruth’s and Cy Young’s and Lou Gehrig’s careers put together… his post playing career life… is so despicable you want to stop and take a shower every couple of pages. Dykstra becomes no better than human excrement right before the readers eyes. Dykstra is a racist… a misogynist… a drug addict… a thief… a fraud… a disgustingly unkempt example of a wasted human being. He should have been taken off the conveyor belt of human beings by a quality control supervisor long before he had the continued ability to ruin people’s lives.
Despite his more than full-service prejudicial “M.O.” described above… he harbored no such prejudices against any possible human being that he could rip off. He lied… misled… stole… forged… documents… credit cards… stock information… mansions… offices… cars… planes… hotels… meals… and more from people in any walk of life… rich… or poor… black… brown… white… male… female… young… old… strangers… and even innumerable members of his family. He even forged documents to steal part of his son’s Major League signing bonus. Scum-bag-sociopath-Dykstra… had absolutely no prejudice whatsoever… when it came to stealing from other human beings… or in dehumanizing them.
His deviant behavior could range from stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street executives… to purposely filling expensive hotel toilets with non-flushed feces… simply to gross out poor hard working janitorial workers. He sexually abused women who replied to job opportunities… and he did this under multiple aliases.
Suffice to say Dykstra was aberrantly mis-wired in the factory of life and human decency. The fact that he admitted on and off… that he used steroids during his career… is a microscopic point… that is almost insignificant… since he should … more importantly… be suspended from life… which being that he’s in prison… he basically is… and the hell with baseball.
How bad is he? Los Angeles Police Department Detective Juan Contreras “who has been a street cop during the L.A. riots and had encountered many members of notorious gangs, such as the Blood and the Crips, says Dykstra is a “total sociopath” and among the top three most egregious criminals he’s come across in his twenty-four years on the force. I’ve met a lot of gang members that have more ethics than this guy, he says.”
If a single penny of this book went to Dykstra I’d tell you not to buy it. But the author who had not only worked for Dykstra… but was also at the top of the list of the poor souls who worked his butt off for Dykstra based on a “pie-in-the-sky”… we’ll get rich together… fraudulent lie… was almost never paid… but kept on working around the clock. In fact the reader will be flabbergasted by two things… the sociopathic… demented… psychotic… Dykstra… and how in the holy hell could the author keep working for him?
Despite his more than full-service prejudicial “M.O.” described above… he harbored no such prejudices against any possible human being that he could rip off. He lied… misled… stole… forged… documents… credit cards… stock information… mansions… offices… cars… planes… hotels… meals… and more from people in any walk of life… rich… or poor… black… brown… white… male… female… young… old… strangers… and even innumerable members of his family. He even forged documents to steal part of his son’s Major League signing bonus. Scum-bag-sociopath-Dykstra… had absolutely no prejudice whatsoever… when it came to stealing from other human beings… or in dehumanizing them.
His deviant behavior could range from stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Wall Street executives… to purposely filling expensive hotel toilets with non-flushed feces… simply to gross out poor hard working janitorial workers. He sexually abused women who replied to job opportunities… and he did this under multiple aliases.
Suffice to say Dykstra was aberrantly mis-wired in the factory of life and human decency. The fact that he admitted on and off… that he used steroids during his career… is a microscopic point… that is almost insignificant… since he should … more importantly… be suspended from life… which being that he’s in prison… he basically is… and the hell with baseball.
How bad is he? Los Angeles Police Department Detective Juan Contreras “who has been a street cop during the L.A. riots and had encountered many members of notorious gangs, such as the Blood and the Crips, says Dykstra is a “total sociopath” and among the top three most egregious criminals he’s come across in his twenty-four years on the force. I’ve met a lot of gang members that have more ethics than this guy, he says.”
If a single penny of this book went to Dykstra I’d tell you not to buy it. But the author who had not only worked for Dykstra… but was also at the top of the list of the poor souls who worked his butt off for Dykstra based on a “pie-in-the-sky”… we’ll get rich together… fraudulent lie… was almost never paid… but kept on working around the clock. In fact the reader will be flabbergasted by two things… the sociopathic… demented… psychotic… Dykstra… and how in the holy hell could the author keep working for him?
January 14, 2019
There are quite a few books about some of the main members of the 1986 Mets, including Lenny Dykstra and Doc Gooden. It is amazing that there are at least three books regarding Lenny Dysktra. This particular book focuses primarily on Dystra's post baseball career with attention on many of his wheeling and dealings. The author obviously kept very good notes and paints a very telling picture of Dykstra unusual personality. The chapters are short but become tougher and tougher to read until the end of the book when Dykstra is sentenced to jail. The main message that I got was that famous people take advantage of others (in this case with money) and they have no feelings about doing this.
July 5, 2019
Lenny Dykstra is one incredibly awful human being who will never, ever let go of his life as a ball player.
Also, I'm disturbed at how often those in the publishing world (or at least Dykstra and Frankie's corner of it) used the term "ghostwrite." Makes me rethink a lot of things I've read over the years.
Also, I'm disturbed at how often those in the publishing world (or at least Dykstra and Frankie's corner of it) used the term "ghostwrite." Makes me rethink a lot of things I've read over the years.
January 11, 2022
Have you ever had a terrible boss? Have you ever had a terrible boss and then wrote a book about that time? If not and you are interested in hearing a story about it then read this book. Lenny Dykstra is not a saint and has never claimed to be. This book go into detail about working for Lenny. Nothing earth shattering in this book. You can skip it.
August 12, 2019
Lenny is quite the POS.
November 29, 2015
If you’re ugly, crass, love chaw, and are passably good at baseball, you might be Lenny Dykstra, a player so tough he was nicknamed “Nails.” On a scale of one (scrappy) to ten (never-say-die), Nails went to 11, starting by going from no. 315 in the 13th round of the draft to three-time All-Star center fielder. A human spark plug, Nails brought the sensibilities of a hockey player (and a bag of steroids [1]) to MLB, running headlong into concrete structures to make plays. Working for the Mets and Phillies, Dykstra earned respectable stats and a World Series ring but also played hard off the field, racking up DUIs, gambling troubles, and drug problems. After baseball, Dykstra brought audacious competitiveness to the business world, where author Frankie worked for him [2] and here chronicles his colossal meltdown in much detail and interviews with close associates. Starting with running executive car washes, Dykstra grew his trade account into many millions and, improbably, wrote a well-respected financial advice column [3]. Despite his hard-driving work ethic, buying things like Wayne Gretzky’s mansion and a Gulfstream unraveled his finances in 2006. After foreclosure and a failed attempt to start a magazine, Dykstra began a spree of illegal business practices like credit fraud. By 2009 he had declared bankruptcy and faced charges on embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud, drug possession, and embarrassing allegations concerning his peccadilloes like soliciting women on Cragslist for sex. VERDICT A sad but oddly compelling portrait of a fallen sports icon.
[1] Wikipedia: Radomski claimed he sold Deca-Durabolin, Dianabol, and testosterone to Dykstra after the 1993 season. After 2000, Dykstra reportedly discussed his past steroid use with the Commissioner’s Office. Dykstra declined interview.
[2] Frankie will most probably get his ass pummeled when Nails gets out of prison sometime in 2015; on March 5, 2012, Dykstra was sentenced to three years in prison following a no contest plea to charges of grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement. According to court records and press reports, Dykstra and confederates obtained automobiles from various car dealerships using falsified bank statements and stolen identities; allegations show that he sold more than $400,000 worth of property without informing a court-appointed trustee after he filed for bankruptcy.
[3] for none other than Jim Cramer, Douchebag
Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.
[1] Wikipedia: Radomski claimed he sold Deca-Durabolin, Dianabol, and testosterone to Dykstra after the 1993 season. After 2000, Dykstra reportedly discussed his past steroid use with the Commissioner’s Office. Dykstra declined interview.
[2] Frankie will most probably get his ass pummeled when Nails gets out of prison sometime in 2015; on March 5, 2012, Dykstra was sentenced to three years in prison following a no contest plea to charges of grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement. According to court records and press reports, Dykstra and confederates obtained automobiles from various car dealerships using falsified bank statements and stolen identities; allegations show that he sold more than $400,000 worth of property without informing a court-appointed trustee after he filed for bankruptcy.
[3] for none other than Jim Cramer, Douchebag
Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.
January 17, 2015
the mighty "dude" has fallen. This book was hard for me to get through. I am a big fan of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies of which Lenny "Nails/Dude" Dykstra was the center peice and provided the grit of the team. I loved watching Lenny play, but always was taught to never look at him as a role model. He was too tough, chewed too much tobacco. however ive always been told to play as hard as he did.
I liked the look into Lenny the man instead of the baseball player. it just made me sad.
good book and think Frankie did a fair and good job
I liked the look into Lenny the man instead of the baseball player. it just made me sad.
good book and think Frankie did a fair and good job
March 31, 2015
Lenny Dykstra is a beautiful train wreck. I would assume this was a work of fiction, finding it hard to believe that anyone would act as he did, and still show his face in Public. This is not a baseball book, it's about a baseball player with a love for drugs, and vulgar behavior. Follow Lenny from Stardom to Prison. It's funny while being sad.
December 30, 2013
Hardly a literary masterwork, and the author isn't as blameless as he likely believes he is, but the content puts The Wolf of Wall Street to shame. If you haven't followed the various middlebrow mag articles about Dykstra's decline, pick this up. It's a decent read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews