House of Nails

Eclipsing the traditional sports memoir, House of Nails is a tale of Shakespearian proportions-a relentlessly entertaining ride that careens from the heights to the abyss.

Lenny Dykstra, nicknamed "Nails" for his hustle and grit, approached the game of baseball-and life-with mythic intensity. During his decade in the majors as a legendary member of the 1980s Mets and 1990s Phillies, he was named to three All-Star teams and played in two of the most memorable World Series of...
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Eclipsing the traditional sports memoir, House of Nails is a tale of Shakespearian proportions-a relentlessly entertaining ride that careens from the heights to the abyss.

Lenny Dykstra, nicknamed "Nails" for his hustle and grit, approached the game of baseball-and life-with mythic intensity. During his decade in the majors as a legendary member of the 1980s Mets and 1990s Phillies, he was named to three All-Star teams and played in two of the most memorable World Series of the modern era.

Then came a second act no novelist could plausibly conjure: After retiring, Dykstra became "baseball's most improbable post-career success story" (The New Yorker). But when the real estate bubble burst in 2008, Lenny lost everything. Then the feds moved in: convicted of bankruptcy fraud (unjustly, he contends), Lenny served two and a half harrowing years in prison.