Controversial former Philadelphia Phillies star Lenny Dykstra joined The Herd today and bounced around a number hot baseball topics, including the recent viral fight between Blue Jays’ star Jose Bautista and Rangers Second Baseman Roughned Odor.
Dykstra said he doesn’t have a problem with the Bautista fight because it makes the game more exciting for fans, and he believes baseball is primarily about entertainment. Dykstra recalled as a player he would rhetorically ask himself for a brief moment after each game, “If I were a fan, would I have paid money to watch me play tonight?”
Dykstra elaborated that when he played, fights were more common and the punishment less severe. He recalled that he wasn’t suspended or even fined for a 1990 scrap with former Dodgers’ Catcher Rick Dempsey.
On the topic of drug use in baseball, Dykstra was honest about his own usage of performance enhancing drugs in the 80’s and 90’s. He said the benefits of commonly used substances, like amphetamines, outweighed the risk.
“They’re huge, the bottom line is you’re playing every night. Once you take them, you get the eye of the tiger and they work.”
When Colin asked Dykstra if he ever used HGH or steroids, Dykstra remarked, “I put that in my cereal.”
He continued, “We’re talking about the difference between making $30 million, or getting a real job and working and making $60,000. You want the guy next to you to take them and you’re not gonna take them?”