Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies phenom Lenny Dykstra said that he used information about gay umpires and others to blackmail them while he was in Major League Baseball.
What a pig.
Dykstra told Colin Cowherd that he spent a half-million dollars later in his career hiring private investigators to dig up dirt on various MLB umpires who had sex with men, had extramarital sex with women and gambled. Dykstra said he would let umpires know he had this information, sometimes right after they called a strike on him. He claimed the umpires would shrink the strike zone for him because of the information, and that's why he led the league in walks.
To justify this disgusting display, Dykstra said he was just doing it to feed his family. I'm not sure what is lower: Invading the private lives of men whom he should have viewed as his colleagues and then blackmailing them, or then using your children and wife as a shield to keep naysayers at bay.
Both Dave Pallone and Dale Scott were closeted gay umpires in the Major Leagues while Dysktra was playing.
I have no doubt Dykstra did what he is claiming. He told Cowherd that some of the explosive details will be laid out in an upcoming book. Frankly, Major League Baseball should take these comments and said book and give the same lifetime ban to Dykstra that they've given to Pete Rose.