Once upon a time (OK, a year ago) the publishers of Trader Monthly got into business with ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra for a magazine called The Player’s Club. Once we realized he couldn’t meet his obligations, Doubledown’s relationship with Lenny ended promptly and lawsuits exchanged hands. Thankfully as a trading publication, we knew to cut our losses. Not everyone did, and they are paying the price.
Morning Call: January 15
LENNY Dykstra’s legal battles have entered a new inning.
The former big-league ballplayer known as “Nails” is involved in yet another squabble over money, this time with high-powered New York literary agent David Vigliano, who claims he lent Dykstra $250,000 last May with an agreement Dykstra would pay him $300,000 by early November.
According to the lawsuit, Vigliano was to receive a $300,000 payment after Dykstra sold some $23 million in notes tied to his former car wash franchise businesses.
Vigliano claims he kept a $106,000 book advance that was supposed to go to Dykstra. As a result, the ex-ballplayer owes the literary agent $194,000.
The advance was part of a deal that Vigliano said he secured for Dykstra to write a book about the financial advice he dispenses in a column on the financial Web site Thestreet.com. Sources say Dykstra never got around to writing the book or delivering a manuscript.
Back in the days when he was still getting favorable press, Dykstra boasted that he had made $60 million since ending his playing days with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.