Lenny Dykstra -- financial genius or con artist?

Over/under on when he goes to prison? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4084962

Haha yeah. I looked at TSCM recently since the stock is trading below cash (negative EV), but was like Cramer AND Dykstra? That cash is worth a lot lot less than face value.

Hahaha I read an article in GQ about him, he seems like a sleazeball

Great Baseball player. He said he’s 92-0 in option picks? What does that mean? WHen someone makes that claim, you know they’re a fraud - for a variety of reasons.

joemontana Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Great Baseball player. > > He said he’s 92-0 in option picks? What does that > mean? > > WHen someone makes that claim, you know they’re a > fraud - for a variety of reasons. Yeah, I don’t really understand people who brag about those sort of supposed records. If he were really that good, he would not be writing about options, but running some sort of hedge fund or whatever (and probably would not be in financial hot water right now).

Wow, great article. I remember seeing his articles on thestreet a few years back but never took a look at them. I would say he’s headed to jail or someone is going to kill him if he’s messing around with the Russian mafia. What the hell kind of comment is this? “People invested with me made 250-large last year. That’s $250,000,” Dykstra says, which if true should earn him a front-row seat in the Obama cabinet." ^^^ Do I need to even begin with the litany of questions for this comment? Also: “Last month, though, on March 23, Dykstra picked up the phone and woke up his mother with a call at around 6 in the morning, according to Kevin Dykstra, his younger brother. Lenny was stranded in Cleveland. He wanted to charter a jet so he could get to a business meeting on the West Coast, and his credit cards were maxed out. He needed nearly $23,000 and asked his mother for it, Kevin says.” Seems like this clown just lives way outside of his means. I thought I had heard recently that Dykstra had been fired by thestreet dot com… couldn’t find the story though.

ESPN did a story on him 2 years ago, about how he was taking over the financial world and about to launch his hedge fund, and now after the bull market ends the truth comes out. Reminds me of that DB trader who keeps losing billions, but he became a king because of trading CDOs during the housing boom.

joemontana Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Great Baseball player. > > He said he’s 92-0 in option picks? What does that > mean? > > WHen someone makes that claim, you know they’re a > fraud - for a variety of reasons. According to the article he bases that record on the fact that he cashes out the winners and lets his losers expire while continually sinking funds into them until then. Definitely a clown.

LoL should he not be like 902-0 then?..92-0 is weak if thats how the scoring works.

brianr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > What the hell kind of comment is this? > > “People invested with me made 250-large last year. > That’s $250,000,” Dykstra says, which if true > should earn him a front-row seat in the Obama > cabinet." > he sounds like Kenny Powers

philip.platt Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > brianr Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > > What the hell kind of comment is this? > > > > “People invested with me made 250-large last > year. > > That’s $250,000,” Dykstra says, which if true > > should earn him a front-row seat in the Obama > > cabinet." > > > > he sounds like Kenny Powers Yes! A Kenny Powers reference! “I was born with a rocket arm, a monster c**k and the brain of a scientist.”

His strategy is the same as the naive blackjack strategy of doubling your bet every time you lose with the theory being that you have to win eventually. The strategy would only work in blackjack with unlimited bankroll and no table limits.

gamblingeconomist Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > His strategy is the same as the naive blackjack > strategy of doubling your bet every time you lose > with the theory being that you have to win > eventually. The strategy would only work in > blackjack with unlimited bankroll and no table > limits. And a casino with no pit bosses, as I believe they’ll throw you our for trying to martingale.

gamblingeconomist Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > His strategy is the same as the naive blackjack > strategy of doubling your bet every time you lose > with the theory being that you have to win > eventually. The strategy would only work in > blackjack with unlimited bankroll and no table > limits. Back in school, I thought the expect value is 0 in the long run.

edited out

Shocker…I wonder if Cramer is ready to hop off his n%ts yet: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former New York Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra has sought bankruptcy protection in Los Angeles, citing more than $31 million in debts. Federal court documents show Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 status on Tuesday. He listed assets of $50,000 or less and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million. Dykstra, whose lifestyle included a lavish house, a jet and a Rolls Royce, says he owes millions of dollars to his 20 largest creditors, many of them banks. His filing follows at least two dozen lawsuits over his business and financial dealings.

What are the odds that someone is both a first-rate MLB player and also a financial genius (for lack of a better term)? Truly miniscule I’d think - if he’s a one-in-a-million baseball player (which is probably roughly right) and a one-in-a-million investor (not so sure about that, but just for the sake of argument . . .) he’d be a one-in-a-trillion human being, correct? Not dispositive, but reason for skepticism I’d say.

Magic Johnson pulled it off. That’s about it.

Is Magic really a financial genius, or just savvy enough to choose good people to take advantage of his fame? I don’t know much about his career. I think there are quite a few ex-athletes that have been successful in business, but not many in investing that I know of.

Ty Cobb was an immensely successful investor. He bought a lot of Coke stock in the 30’s. and had some other good deals. That’s a bygone era though. Roger Staubach was very successful in business, but I think he did commercial real estate.