Former major league player Lenny Dykstra said he used to hire private investigators to dig up dirt on umpires so he could use the information to get calls to go his way during games.
Dykstra, who was part of the Mets' World Series championship team in 1986, told Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd he "pulled out half a million bucks" to hire a private investigation team to look into umpires' personal lives.
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"Their blood's just as red as ours," Dykstra said during the interview. "Some of them like women, some of them like men, some of them gamble, some of them do whatever."
Dykstra said he hired the private eyes while he "was trying to get the money" before signing a four-year contract extension with the Phillies in 1993.
"It wasn't a coincidence, you think, that I led the league in walks the next few years, was it? I don't think. I know," Dykstra said. "Fear does a lot to a man."
Dykstra then imitated a conversation he had with a home plate umpire to get a smaller strike zone.
"Hey, did you cover last night?' He calls a strike. 'Oh, I don't think you heard me, did you cover the spread last night?'" he said before using hand motions to signify a shrinking of the strike zone. "I had to do what I had to do to win and to support my family."
Since his 12-year playing career with the Mets and Phillies ended, the three-time All-Star has had numerous financial issues and been in trouble with the law, including charges of bankruptcy fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced in 2012 to three years in prison following no-contest pleas in Los Angeles County Superior Court to charges of grand theft auto and filing a false financial statement, plus nine months for exposing himself to a woman and threatening another with a knife. He was also named in the 2007 Mitchell Report as an alleged steroid user.
WOAH. WOAH. Lenny Dykstra says he hired PI's to track umpires & use information against them. #TheHerd https://t.co/8iroeqUzRZ
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) October 27, 2015