The Berks Barrister Winter 2017 - 28

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Book Review

Continued from page 27

in full display at this year's Holiday Benefit Luncheon);
Mitch Williams must have been a disciple of Harry
Houdini as he had an uncanny ability to escape from
mostly self-created crises; a major reason for the success of
the 1993 team was the versatility and contributions of the
bench; that although many people believe that the 1993
team was just plain lucky, many members of the team had
career years, it stayed healthy, and Manager Jim Fregosi
perfectly utilized the bench and the bullpen; and lastly, that
"it wasn't Mitch's fault that we lost (the World Series) - we
were a team, and as much as there were mixed emotions, we
fully supported Mitch."
But the book is about much more than baseball tidbits.
It's also about a life of excess and extravagance, of brashness
and arrogance. Dykstra brags about his seemingly endless
sexual conquests, his ownership of a Gulfstream ("the biggest
swinging dick of private aviation"), and having purchased
Wayne Gretzky's mansion for $17.5 million. He also boasts

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about his expertise in the stock market, the reality of which is
somewhat circumspect.
The book is rife with contradictions and rationalizations. He
began injecting steroids after the 1989 season and claims that
because his body composition could not withstand the grind of
a long season, he was forced to "do it for his family." After all, he
says, would you rather be a successful baseball player raking in tens
of millions or having "some shitty job where you take orders from
some asshole"? He also mentions that the critics of steroid use -
"mostly in the media" - have no comprehension of the pressures of
professional sports.
He also claims to "take ownership of his shortcomings." Yet, he
states that if a single, simple telephone call had been made by his
attorney, the entire mess created by a bankruptcy filing and lawsuit
filed against him could have been avoided. Ultimately, he served
just less than seven months of a three-year federal prison sentence.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the book provides scant details about the
bankruptcy filing or lawsuits he faced.
He writes about how much he despised certain players who
"brown-nosed umpires," whose motive was to gain an advantage
with them. Yet, he states that he hired private investigators to dig
up embarrassing nuggets from the umpires' personal lives (such
as gambling habits, sexual preferences, etc.) that he would then
casually mention to the umpires as he stepped into the batter's box.
His motive, of course, was to encourage umpires to call balls and
strikes in his favor, in exchange for which Lenny would keep this
sensitive information private. So, in Dykstra's mind, "brown-nosing"
the umpire was bush league, while his strategy was perfectly fine.
It is interesting to attempt to discern who actually wrote the
book. Certain parts of the book do not appear to have been written
alone by someone with the background and experience of one
Lenny Dykstra. A 2016 New York Times article states that "veteran
collaborator Peter Golenbock worked with Dykstra for seven or

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Berks Barrister Winter 2017
