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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Writer Says Ex-Baseball Player Didn’t Pay Up

(CN) — The social media manager for former baseball player Lenny Dykstra claims in court that the World Series champion didn't pay him for work related to the promotion of Dykstra's memoir.

Noah Scheinmann worked 18-hour days "masterminding and ghostwriting" the former slugger's Twitter account, answering calls and text messages, advising Dykstra and "dealing with the fallout from Dykstra's boorish behavior," according to a lawsuit Scheinmann filed Friday in Southern New York Federal Court.

"Once Dykstra reaped the tremendous benefits of Scheinmann's efforts, he attempted to secure all of the rewards for himself by purporting to unilaterally terminate the agreements and by refusing to pay Scheinmann the amounts owed to him," the eight-page complaint states.

The two men entered into an agreement for Scheinmann to run a media campaign for Dykstra's new book, "House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge," according to the lawsuit. The book was released June 28.

"Scheinmann's ghost writing of Dykstra's Twitter account garnered tremendous media attention for Dykstra including, but not limited to, stories referencing his Twitter account being featured in the New York Post, Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, the New York Daily News, nj.com, and phillyvoice.com," the complaint states. "In addition, Scheinmann's ghost writing efforts either directly resulted in or contributed to Dykstra being offered live appearances on various media outlets including, but not limited to, The Herd on FS1, ESPN's Mike and Mike and First Take, Vice Media, The Doug Gottlieb Show, the Adam Carolla podcast, and an appearance on the Howard Stern Show."

The former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies center fielder gushed about Scheinmann's work in two emails to HarperCollins, but "apparently decided that he would keep all of the profits from those ventures for himself," Scheinmann says.

Scheinmann seeks $91,000 in compensatory damages. He is represented by Adam Grant of Polsinelli PC in New York City.

Dykstra could not be reached for comment Monday.

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