The Players Club

Lenny Dykstra Gets Sued Over Magazine Launch

Facing 100 mph fastballs and diving for screaming line drives couldn't have been this hard. In his latest tumble, former baseball star Lenny Dykstra is being sued in federal court in Manhattan for allegedly failing to pay five people a combined $183,000 for helping launch The Players Club, his ill-fated magazine about the extravagant lifestyles of pro athletes. The plaintiffs include, the New York Post reports, Time magazine art director Arthur Hochstein and Mary Anne Gordon, a former head of photography at Time, as well as Marco Canora, a celebrated chef Dykstra hired for the magazine's $400,000 launch party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York.

Dykstra's recent troubles are well-chronicled. As Luxist reported last month, he reportedly faces foreclosure on his home, a six-bedroom mansion in Thousand Oaks, Calif., that he bought from Wayne Gretzky, and had his private jet impounded. TheStreet.com dropped Dykstra's investment-advice column in April. The Players Club, meanwhile, has been the subject of various lawsuits for months.

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Then And Now: The Player's Club

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Last March, the New Yorker featured an article on ex-baseball player Lenny Dykstra's luxury magazine, The Players Club, aimed at professional athletes. The magazine was created to show the pros not just how to spend the massive amounts of money they earn but also how to keep their wealth and make smart decisions so they don't join the ranks of players who earn millions and wind up in financial trouble just a few years later. It sounded like things were going great for Dykstra. Now it seems that The Players Club is in a little trouble of its own. The NY Post reports that acting editor Chris Frankie recently resigned and says he is owed back pay. Meanwhile Dykstra says Frankie owes him money. So far the magazine has had four different printers and three different editors and the word on the street is that Dykstra doesn't pay his bills on time, if at all. As a consequence of the turmoil, last issue of Players Club was published in October, and the November issue will now be combined into a year-end double issue which hasn't shown up yet even though we are more than halfway through December. Rumors that the magazine will fold have been floating around for the last month or so. Given the grim climate for luxury magazines and shrinking advertiser dollars, he's certainly in the bottom of the ninth with a couple of outs.

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Tags: lenny dykstra, LennyDykstra, the players club, then and now, ThenAndNow, ThePlayersClub

The Players Club, A Magazine For Pro Athletes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Sports

This week's New Yorker features an article about ex-baseball player Lenny Dykstra and his new luxury magazine aimed at professional athletes. The Players Club is being published by Doubledown Media which does other niche luxury mags such as Dealmaker and Private Air. The magazine isn't just to show the players how to spend the massive amounts of money they earn but also how to keep their wealth and make smart decisions so they don't join the ranks of players who earn millions and wind up in financial trouble just a few years later. The case of Latrell Sprewell springs immediately to mind but there are many other instances of athletes who have earned enough money to be set for life but end up in financial trouble.

Dykstra's magazine will have articles by past players as well as professional journalists (former Mets player Keith Hernandez will serve as food critic). The Players Club will have a circulation of 20,000 and will be spent to athletes in major sports leagues, soccer, professional tennis, the PGA, NASCAR, Formula I and others. Agents, team management, team offices and financial advisors will also receive the magazine. The circulation may be small but luxury advertisers have already committed to the magazine because of the audience. The Players Club will debut in April.

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Tags: doubledown media, expire-images:2009-3-25, lenny dykstra, LennyDykstra, professional athletes, ProfessionalAthletes, the players club