By Geri Gibbons
SCRANTON — After decades marked by legal and personal challenges, former Phillies and Mets star Lenny Dykstra is living in Scranton with some new goals.
Dykstra, now 61, played 11 years in New York and Philadelphia, and looks back on those times fondly, especially when recalling winning a World Series championship as a member of the 1986 Mets and coming close to doing so with the 1993 Phils.
But Dykstra said those accomplishments paled with him suffering a stroke in February, leaving his right hand weakened and his speech slowed. Now, Dykstra is hanging out with a local pastor, attending church and planning a variety show to encourage other stroke victims.
It’s not that the Bromley Avenue resident has lost his penchant for telling crude jokes, referencing female body parts and requesting fast food as a requirement for a newspaper interview in Scranton. He said he wants to help others and is willing to learn more about spirituality.
Several months ago, Dennis D’Augostine, pastor of Steamtown Church, heard from a friend who said, “I think you can help Lenny Dykstra.”
Both men say they don’t remember much about the first time they met, but have enjoyed spending time together. It helps that D’Augostine is a Mets fan and remembers watching the 1986 World Series.
D’Augostine takes Dykstra to appointments, eats meals with him and welcomes him to church.
Dykstra hasn’t come to faith yet and admits there is still a lot to learn, but he’s willing.
“‘God’ is only three letters, but it’s a big word,” he said.
Dykstra rehabbed at UCLA Medical Center after his stroke, where he connected with other stroke victims.
“I got to know them,” he said. “I was one of them.”
Now, he wants to produce a pay-per-view variety show, offering music, humor and other entertainment to stroke victims. Dykstra said after a stroke many people go from therapy to doctors’ appointments to more therapy, with little chance for fun.
“They can be pretty miserable,” he said, but he believes that being connected with others and encouraged to have a bit of fun will help stroke victims heal both emotionally and physically.
“I’m going to call it, ‘Different strokes for different folks,’” he said.
As for his life, Dykstra said he has regrets, but not many. At one point, he told his wife he was going to rehab and instead headed for California for a week of drugs and women, he said. Dykstra married his wife, Terri, in 1985, just months before his debut with the Mets. The two divorced in 2009 and have two sons.
Dykstra knows he hurt his family, but now gets along very well with his sons. Dykstra said he did some drinking while playing for the Mets, but his drug use intensified when he played for the Phillies.
“It was a pharmacy,” he said.
Although he admits he liked using drugs and alcohol, he doesn’t identify himself as an addict.
“There were a lot of other players that were worse than me,” he said.
When asked about his fall from grace after his career ended, which included jail time and multiple lawsuits, Dykstra doesn’t beat himself up.
He grew up in California living a quiet, middle-class life with good parents who worked regular jobs, but Dykstra said he never wanted to live in the middle.
Although he looks back with pride to a time when he could call up his private jet to fly to Europe and lived in a multimillion-dollar home, he’s also content to live in an apartment rent-free where he looks forward to painting the walls and putting up some simple artwork.
“I’m not complaining,” he said. “I’m happy here.”
Darryl Strawberry, a four-time World Series champion and teammate on the 1986 Mets, speaks to Dykstra often. Strawberry had a heart attack in March. Dykstra met up with Strawberry at an autograph-signing event on Oct. 12 in New York.
On Strawberry’s Instagram page, under a photo captioned, “Great seeing the boys tonight,” the two stood together as Strawberry held a “Champions 86” jersey. Dykstra stood by his side, pointing and smiling at the shirt.
D’Augostine said Strawberry is a committed Christian and hopes he will have a positive impact on his friend. Strawberry also struggled with drugs and alcohol during his career, and now has been clean and sober for over 20 years.
Strawberry and his wife run a Christian ministry entitled “Finding your Way.”
“I consider myself best to have been able to play in the two best sports cities, New York and Philadelphia,” Dykstra said. He kids that in high school, he only had one friend.
“I needed someone else to play catch with,” he said.
Dykstra attended Garden Grove High School in California, where he excelled at both baseball and football. He originally planned to attend college, but instead was drafted by the Mets in 1981, and started working his way through the minor leagues. In 1985, the Mets called him up, where he starred as an outfielder.
In 1986, the Mets won the World Series and Dykstra’s star rose. In June of 1989, Dykstra was traded to the Phillies after demanding that he play every game. He remembers being tapped on his shoulder during a game and told he had been traded.
An Associated Press article about his first game was headlined, “Dykstra sparkles.” The Veterans Stadium fan base took to Dykstra immediately and the feeling was mutual.
He played his final game with the Phillies and as a MLB player in 1996.
Dykstra believes that at some point, its likely he’ll move out of Scranton. For now, however, he enjoys staying in his one-bedroom apartment rent-free, courtesy of his attorney Matthew Blit, who owns the building. Blit invited Dykstra to the town.
“The people are all really cool,” Dykstra said. “The more I’m here, the more I like it.”
Dykstra described Scranton people as, “cool, cool.”
“In New York or LA, they think they’re cool,” he said. “Here people are natural, they don’t try to put on a show.”
Even the police are friendly to him, he says. D’Augostine believes Dykstra is learning and growing and headed for a spiritual awakening.
“This is his redemption tour,” D’Augostine said. “This story is going to have a great ending.”
