Think you know how baseball's biggest stars make their millions? Prepare for a shock! This video exposes the surprising financial pitfalls that can lead even wealthy MLB players to ruin after their careers end.
We delve into the common mistakes of legendary athletes, from lavish spending sprees to risky investments and a surprising lack of financial literacy. Discover how these lucrative careers can derail due to poor financial management.
These cautionary tales offer critical lessons. Learn why diligent, long-term financial planning and expert advice are absolutely essential, no matter how high your income might be.
Get an eye-opening look at the hidden financial struggles of baseball's elite. Empower yourself with the knowledge to avoid devastating mistakes and build a secure financial future.
#MLBFinance #AthleteWealth #FinancialMistakes #Baseball
We delve into the common mistakes of legendary athletes, from lavish spending sprees to risky investments and a surprising lack of financial literacy. Discover how these lucrative careers can derail due to poor financial management.
These cautionary tales offer critical lessons. Learn why diligent, long-term financial planning and expert advice are absolutely essential, no matter how high your income might be.
Get an eye-opening look at the hidden financial struggles of baseball's elite. Empower yourself with the knowledge to avoid devastating mistakes and build a secure financial future.
#MLBFinance #AthleteWealth #FinancialMistakes #Baseball
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00لا ينمي ميغل جديد لن تسجح لا تسجح البروكة.
00:04سنعني ديكستر بمثلة عزيزة لعبئة الاشيال بعضة الاشياء.
00:08لني ديكستر بنذ بِمشارة لنشاطين في المستجنب يسرل لكل مماني تعالية وفرق.
00:12سلطل رسل قرار الوصف وفرقه حياتك بسرقه حياتك.
00:15من يقطع أن تبس لديه من العزم المكان لليس سويا
00:21محص محص من ملعض المسابين ، لنفسه نظرر لأن نديكستر.
00:24لني ديكستر
00:25هذا الشعب 3-time All-Star
00:28who helped the Mets win the 1986 World Series
00:30earned himself a cool $58 million over his playing career
00:34which in today's money would be around $84 million
00:37But here's where the story gets juicier than a ballpark hot dog, friends
00:41By 2009, Dykstra was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
00:45with over $10 million in debts
00:47and that was just the beginning of his troubles
00:49You see, Nails had this brilliant idea
00:51to buy Wayne Gretzky's $18.5 million mansion
00:54in Thousand Oaks, California
00:56financing it with six loans totaling $21 million
00:59that required monthly payments of $135,434
01:04Now, I don't know about you
01:05but that's more than most folks make in a year
01:07and old Lenny was supposed to cough that up
01:09every 30 days like clockwork
01:11But wait, there's more
01:12Our boy launched something called The Players Club magazine
01:15threw a $600,000 launch party at the Mandarin Oriental
01:18with Donald Trump and Jim Cramer in attendance
01:20and then watched it all crumble faster than a stale cookie
01:23when the 2008 recession hit like a fastball to the ribs
01:26For all you people out there, don't buy a private jet
01:28If you want to go broke, buy a private jet
01:31I mean, cause like dude, I thought women were the most powerful thing in the world
01:35The kicker, and oh brother is this a kicker
01:37came when federal prosecutors started digging into Dykstra's finances
01:40and discovered he'd been selling assets and lying about it under oath
01:43including hawking baseball memorabilia for $15,000 to a Las Vegas dealer
01:48while claiming he had nothing left
01:50They slapped him with charges for embezzlement, grand theft auto, identity theft, and bankruptcy fraud
01:55and in December 2012, a judge sentenced him to six and a half months in the big house
01:59plus 500 hours of community service and $200,000 in restitution
02:04Now here's where it gets really wild
02:06When the cops raided his Encino home in June 2011
02:09they found cocaine, ecstasy, and human growth hormone
02:13just lying around like party favors
02:14Today, at age 62, Dykstra's living in some flophouse in New Jersey
02:19got evicted for owing $50,000 in back rent
02:22and his net worth is hovering somewhere near $0
02:24which is a far cry from those glory days
02:27when he was crashing into outfield walls and making highlight reels
02:30Speaking of Hall of Fame pitchers who threw away their fortunes on foolish dreams
02:33Kurt Schilling
02:34Here we had one of baseball's greatest clutch pitchers
02:37a man who earned $114 million over his 20-year career
02:41and won three World Series rings
02:43including that legendary 2004 Bloody Sock game
02:46that helped the Red Sox finally break the curse of the Bambino
02:49But Schilling, bless his heart
02:51decided he was going to become the next great video game mogul
02:54and boy oh boy did that decision come back to bite him harder
02:57than a Randy Johnson fastball to the ribs
02:59In 2006, while still collecting paychecks from the Red Sox
03:02he founded 38 Studios, named after his jersey number, naturally
03:06with dreams of creating a massive multiplayer online game called Project Copernicus
03:10that would rival World of Warcraft
03:12Now, most folks would dip a toe in the water before diving headfirst into the deep end
03:16but not our man Kurt
03:18He dumped $50 million of his own money into this venture
03:21which was pretty much every penny he'd saved from baseball after taxes and expenses
03:25When I say what you want me to apologize for
03:27I'm seriously asking in the sense that
03:29I didn't plan on
03:31and I never did anything malicious or illegal
03:33When everything happened and we ended
03:35the company ended
03:36we lived in that building for a year, year and a half
03:39The company hired fantasy author R.A. Salvatore
03:42and comic legend Todd McFarlane
03:44employed 379 people
03:46and moved operations to Providence, Rhode Island in 2010
03:49after the state dangled a $75 million loan guarantee in front of them
03:53like a carrot on a stick
03:54They managed to release one game
03:56Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning in February 2012
03:59which sold 1.3 million copies
04:01Pretty decent numbers, right?
04:03Wrong
04:03They needed 3 million sales just to break even
04:06and by May 2012 the whole operation was running on fumes
04:09missing a $1.1 million interest payment to Rhode Island
04:13and laying off all 379 employees without severance or health coverage
04:17When 38 studios filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 2012
04:22they had $22 million in assets against $151 million in debts
04:27leaving Rhode Island taxpayers holding the bag for up to $110 million in losses
04:32Schilling himself was completely tapped out
04:34telling WEI Radio that his entire $50 million baseball fortune had evaporated
04:39forcing him to auction off his famous bloody sock for $92,713
04:44and sell his gold coin collection to cover debts
04:47The state of Rhode Island sued him for fraud
04:49and in 2016 he settled for $2.5 million
04:52though he called the whole thing political persecution
04:55Today, shillings net worth sits at roughly $1 to $2 million
04:59sustained by occasional media appearances and charity work
05:03which is quite the comedown for a guy who once had a Gulfstream jet parked in his hangar
05:07But if you think video game fantasies are bad investments
05:10wait until you hear about the car dealership disaster that claimed our next entry
05:14Bill Buckner
05:15This poor soul, already haunted by that infamous ground ball that slipped through his legs in the 1986 World Series
05:22earned himself around $15 million during his 22-year playing career
05:26which translates to about $35 million in today's money
05:29and retired to Boise, Idaho with dreams of becoming a successful businessman
05:33Buckner, being the hard-working grinder he always was on the diamond
05:37invested heavily in a car dealership operation that bore his name
05:40leveraging his local celebrity status to move inventory and build a customer base that trusted him
05:45For a while there in the early 2000s, things were humming along nicely
05:49with Buckner's friendly face on billboards and his dealership doing steady business in a growing Idaho market that seemed ripe
05:55for expansion
05:55But then, and you can probably see this coming like a curveball hanging over the plate
05:59the 2008 financial crisis hit America like a ton of bricks
06:03and the auto industry got absolutely clobbered when credit markets froze tighter than a catcher's mitt in a Minnesota winter
06:09Buckner's dealership, like thousands of others across the country, found itself drowning in floor plan financing
06:14Those are the loans dealers used to stock their lots with vehicles
06:17while sales plummeted 40% nationwide and customers vanished faster than fans at a rainout
06:23By late 2008, with the business hemorrhaging cash and banks demanding their money back
06:27Buckner had no choice but to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with $3.6 million in liabilities
06:33including substantial debts to the IRS that had been piling up as he desperately tried to keep the doors open
06:39The bankruptcy trustee liquidated everything
06:41the dealership property, the inventory, personal assets including homes and vehicles
06:45leaving Buckner and his family to start over from scratch during one of the worst recessions in American history
06:51But here's where Buckner's story diverges from our previous entries
06:54because this wasn't some reckless gambler or delusional entrepreneur
06:57this was a decent man who got caught in macroeconomic forces beyond his control
07:02and, unlike Dixter's fraud or Schilling's hubris, you almost can't blame the guy for trying to build a legitimate business
07:08Buckner picked himself up, dusted himself off, and pivoted into real estate development in Boise
07:13where he managed to rebuild a modest fortune estimated at $8 million by the time he passed away in 2019
07:19from Lewy body dementia at age 69
07:21having finally made peace with Boston fans who gave him standing ovations in his final years
07:26Speaking of players who lost millions to circumstances partly beyond their control
07:31Jose Canseco
07:33Sweet mother of pearl, this certified wild man who earned every penny of that $45 million during his 17 year
07:40career
07:41which would be roughly $90 million in today's money
07:44managed to blow through it all faster than a fastball down the middle
07:47and brother, the way he did it reads like a textbook on how not to manage your finances
07:51First off, Canseco estimates that 40% of his earnings, roughly $18 million, went straight to taxes right off the
07:58top
07:58which is a bitter pill to swallow but not exactly shocking for someone making millions in the high-tax 1990s
08:03But here's where things get spicy
08:05His two divorces absolutely demolished what was left of his nest egg
08:09with his first wife Esther taking home somewhere between $6 to $8 million in settlements
08:14plus two six-figure supercars
08:16while his second marriage to Jessica Sekely added even more legal fees and settlements to the pile
08:21Now, Canseco being Canseco, he couldn't just live a normal life
08:25No sir, he had to maintain that rockstar lifestyle with Ferraris, mansions, and parties that would make Hugh Hefner blush
08:32all while supporting an extended family that had fled Cuba's poverty and relied on his generosity to survive
08:37He stopped paying taxes for seven straight years in the early 2000s
08:41letting penalties and interest balloon his IRS debt to over $500,000
08:46which was part of a total $1.2 million tax liability when he filed for bankruptcy
08:51But wait, there's more! Remember that tell-all book, Juiced, that Canseco wrote in 2005
08:56exposing widespread steroid use and naming names like Mark McGuire and Jason Giambi?
09:01Well, that book initially earned him some decent royalties
09:04enough that he invested the proceeds into Southern California real estate
09:07only to watch it all evaporate in the 2008 housing crash like morning dew under a desert sun
09:13By 2008, he'd lost a $2.5 million mansion in Encino to foreclosure
09:18and was literally living in a friend's garage with 20 bucks in his pocket
09:22which is about as far as you can fall from the penthouse, folks
09:25The bankruptcy filing in 2012 listed just $21,000 in assets against $1.7 million in debts
09:33mostly owed to the IRS and painted a picture of a man who'd completely run out of rope
09:37His daughter Josie, who became a Victoria's Secret model, publicly stated in 2023
09:42that the family was essentially broke by the time she was 6 or 7 years old
09:46and that she worked for $100 a week early in her career
09:49which tells you everything you need to know about how far the mighty had fallen
09:53Today, at age 61, Canseco scrapes by with an estimated net worth of $800,000 to $900,000
10:00cobbled together from running a Las Vegas car wash, doing podcasts, signing autographs at card shows,
10:06and maintaining his Twitter presence for 469,000 plus followers
10:10who can't get enough of his conspiracy theories and hot takes
10:13Now, if you think gambling on real estate and divorces is bad
10:16wait until you hear about the Ponzi scheme that wiped out our next player
10:20Johnny Damon
10:22Now, Damon never filed for bankruptcy like some of these other knuckleheads
10:25but boy oh boy, did he come dangerously close to losing everything
10:29in one of the most spectacular financial frauds in American history
10:32and it all happened during spring training 2009
10:35when he should have been worried about nothing more than getting his swing ready for the season
10:39You see, Damon had invested a significant chunk of his wealth through an advisory firm
10:43affiliated with his agent Scott Boris
10:45and this firm happened to use services provided by Stanford Financial Group
10:49run by Texas billionaire Alan Stanford
10:51who was orchestrating an $8 billion Ponzi scheme
10:54that made Bernie Madoff look like a street corner hustler
10:57when the SEC froze all Stanford related assets in February 2009
11:01Damon suddenly found himself unable to access his accounts at Pershing LLC
11:05and I'm not talking about pocket change here
11:07this was his primary savings and investment vehicle
11:10the money he'd been counting on to support his wife and children for the rest of their lives
11:13the 35 year old outfielder
11:15then earning $13.5 million with the Yankees
11:18publicly admitted he couldn't pay his bills
11:20including basic expenses like his personal trainers fees and household costs
11:25because everything was locked up tighter than a bank vault
11:27while regulators sorted through Stanford's fraudulent empire
11:30Now here's the part that probably kept Damon up at night
11:33Court documents revealed he had about $70 in interest from Stanford linked accounts
11:37that the bankruptcy receiver wanted to claw back
11:39though the SEC eventually intervened in July 2009
11:42arguing that innocent investors like Damon shouldn't be penalized for the crimes of others
11:47Unlike some of his teammates who lost 99% of their savings
11:50I'm looking at you, Mike Pelfrey and Scott Ayer
11:52Damon's assets were gradually unfrozen over several months without permanent losses
11:56but the whole ordeal cost him sleep, peace of mind, and probably a few points off his batting average that
12:01season
12:01what saved Johnny Damon from complete ruin was timing
12:04he was still earning those big league paychecks and could redirect his Yankees salary to cover immediate expenses
12:09plus the fact that his money wasn't directly invested in Stanford's fraudulent certificates of deposit
12:13but rather held in accounts that used Stanford services
12:16Today, at age 52, Damon sits comfortably with an estimated net worth of $60-70 million
12:21built through prudent post-crisis management including real estate holdings in Florida
12:26coaching youth baseball
12:27and occasional media appearances that keep his name in the public eye
12:30without exposing him to more financial landmines
12:33He's voiced regret over the Stanford scare in interviews
12:36telling Fox Sports in 2009 that
12:38hopefully all this stuff gets resolved, I'm still good
12:41and thankfully for him and his family, it did get resolved before disaster struck
12:45but not everyone caught in the Stanford web was so fortunate
12:48which brings us to our next entry
12:50Scott Ayer
12:51Now folks, if Johnny Damon dodged a bullet with the Stanford Ponzi scheme
12:55Scott Ayer caught that bullet right between the eyes
12:58and let me tell you, this story is enough to make you weep for the common man just trying to
13:02save for retirement
13:03here we had a journeyman left-handed relief pitcher
13:05who spent 13 years in the big leagues from 1997 to 2009
13:09appearing in 617 games for teams like the White Sox, Cubs and Phillies
13:14and earning himself a respectable $15-20 million in salary over that span
13:19not superstar money by any means
13:21but enough to set up a comfortable life if you're smart about it
13:23Ayer being a good teammate and trusting soul
13:25invested most of his life savings through a broker who just happened to be a former teammate
13:30which seemed like the safest bet in the world because
13:33who wouldn't trust a guy you'd shared a locker room with, sweated with, and celebrated victories with
13:38over cold beers after the game?
13:40Well, that former teammate steered Ayer straight into Alan Stanford's web of lies
13:44and when the $8 billion fraud collapsed in February 2009
13:48his final season in professional baseball, mind you
13:51the SEC froze every penny Ayer had saved
13:53leaving him with access to just one bank account containing $3,000 and $13 in cash
13:59Picture this if you will
14:00you're a 36 year old reliever in spring training with the Phillies
14:03you've just signed a $2 million contract for what might be your last year in the majors
14:07and suddenly you can't pay your mortgage
14:09can't cover your kids expenses
14:11can't do anything except watch helplessly while banks threaten foreclosure
14:15and creditors come calling like vultures circling a dying animal in the desert
14:19Ayer publicly admitted he was broke despite having that $2 million contract on paper
14:24because the Phillies salary wouldn't start flowing until the season began
14:27and in the meantime he had bills that couldn't wait for baseball's bureaucratic payment schedule
14:31the Phillies organization, god bless them, stepped up with a salary advance to tide him over
14:36and teammates offered loans which Ayer declined because, as he told ESPN
14:40there are people out there who don't have access to money
14:42if they're a bank they're just going to foreclose on the house
14:45showing more concern for regular folks caught in the same trap than for his own predicament
14:49Unlike Damon, whose assets eventually unfroze without major losses
14:53Ayer's recovery process dragged on for years through lawsuits and partial settlements
14:57and nobody really knows exactly how much he got back
14:59versus how much vanished forever into Stanford's black hole of fraud
15:03After announcing his retirement shortly after the 2009 season
15:06Ayer transitioned into coaching high school baseball in South Carolina
15:10focusing on teaching life lessons to kids at Landrum High School
15:13rather than chasing the big money he'd lost
15:15Today, at age 53, Ayer's estimated net worth sits under $1 million
15:19which is a far cry from where he should be after 13 years of major league service
15:23but he's stable, he's employed, and most importantly
15:26he's found meaning in molding young ball players
15:29rather than obsessing over the millions that slipped through his fingers
15:32Now, if you think trusting teammates with your money is risky
15:35wait until you hear about the Hall of Famer who trusted the wrong business partners
15:39Raleigh Fingers
15:40Holy smokes folks, now we're getting into the old timers
15:43and let me tell you about Raleigh Fingers
15:45That's right, this baseball icon earned roughly $5 million in salary during his playing days
15:50which adjusted for inflation
15:51comes out to somewhere between $15 and $20 million in today's money
15:55Not bad for a guy who started out making league minimum
15:58and ended up as one of the highest paid closers of his era
16:01Shortly after retiring in 1985
16:03Fingers started throwing money at what his advisors promised would be foolproof passive income streams
16:08including Arabian horse breeding operations during the 1980s boom
16:11when wealthy folks were buying thoroughbreds like they were going out of style
16:15The horse market crashed harder than the stock market in 1929
16:18and suddenly those valuable breeding stock were worthless hay burners
16:22that banks seized to offset Fingers mounting debts
16:25leaving him with nothing but stables full of regret and empty promises
16:28But wait, there's more
16:29Our mustachioed friend also invested heavily in a 10-acre pistachio orchard in Madera, California
16:35betting on agricultural profits during California's farming boom
16:38only to watch drought and low yields turn his dream of being a gentleman farmer
16:42into a nightmare of unpaid loans and foreclosure notices
16:45Not content with just those disasters
16:47Fingers also threw money at wind turbine investments during the alternative energy craze of the mid-1980s
16:54Hawaiian timeshares that promised vacation rental income
16:57but delivered oversupply and tourism dips
16:59plus 120 acres of Arizona land and a Palm Springs condo
17:03all of which got liquidated at a fraction of their purchase price when his empire collapsed
17:07By 1989, just four years after hanging up his cleats
17:11Raleigh Fingers found himself filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
17:14with $4.2 million in debts against assets under $50,000
17:18A humiliating fall for a man who'd been elected to the Hall of Fame just three years earlier in 1992
17:24The bankruptcy stripped him of everything
17:26The 5,000 square foot house in El Cajon, California
17:30The luxury cars
17:31The business ventures
17:32Even his dignity, as friends abandoned him and fingers later
17:35Reflected that we could count them on one hand after the filing became public
17:39At age 43, the Hall of Famer had to take a $50,000 per year office job
17:44A humiliating comedown from his million-dollar playing salary
17:48Just to keep food on the table for his wife Susie and their four kids
17:51And when Susie was hospitalized for months after a 1986 car accident
17:55The medical bills added insult to injury while Fingers had no employment to cover the costs
18:00But here's the kicker
18:01In 2007, Wisconsin's Department of Revenue listed Fingers as owing $1.4 million in back income taxes
18:07From his Milwaukee Brewers playing days between 1981 and 1985
18:11Though his attorneys claimed it was a clerical error and resolved it by 2008 without penalties
18:16Today, at age 79, Fingers lives modestly in Las Vegas
18:19With wife Lori, his third marriage, golfing in charity events, signing autographs, and maintaining an estimated net worth of $3
18:26-5 million
18:26Built through endorsements, royalties, and prudent real estate investments that came too late to save him the first time around
18:33Speaking of Hall of Famers who lost fortunes to failed business ventures
18:36Harman Killebrew
18:38Great googly moogly folks, now we're talking about a true baseball legend who fell victim to the oldest con in
18:43the book
18:43Trusting the wrong people with your hard-earned money
18:46Killebrew's downfall accelerated in the mid-1980s when he diversified into entrepreneurial pursuits
18:52That turned out to be elaborate frauds and business disasters wrapped in promises of easy money and passive income
18:57He partnered with a California developer in a Rancho Mirage real estate deal that promised lucrative property flips
19:03Only to discover the developer was a con artist who got convicted of fraud after swindling Killebrew and other partners
19:09out of investments exceeding $200,000
19:11Not learning his lesson quickly enough, Killebrew founded and owned a car dealership in Ontario, Oregon, his adopted hometown
19:18That collapsed due to poor sales, high overhead, and an economic slowdown in the rural market
19:22Pushing him toward bankruptcy while owing banks around $300,000 in loans
19:26He also ventured into a Bloomington, Minnesota car leasing company that failed amid competition and mismanagement
19:32Unable to cover operational costs and adding another $150,000 plus in debts that became what insiders called the final
19:39nail in his financial coffin
19:41By July 1988, Killebrew defaulted on his dream house overlooking the Snake River in Oregon
19:46Missing $2,500 monthly payments and ultimately losing it to foreclosure with total debts hitting $700,000 owed to Forbank
19:53Former Twins owner Calvin Griffith and his old teammate Reggie Jackson, who'd loaned him money that Killebrew couldn't repay
19:59The bankruptcy filing in 1993 liquidated whatever assets remained
20:03Though Killebrew's fame preserved some dignity as he avoided the public humiliation that lesser known players endured
20:09But here's where this story gets inspirational
20:11Because unlike some of these other cats who stayed down for the count, Killebrew picked himself up, dusted himself off
20:16And rebuilt his life through low-risk income streams including autograph signings that could generate $200,000 per year
20:22Old-timers games paying $3,500 per event
20:26And charity work through his Harman Killebrew Foundation established in 1998
20:30By his death from esophageal cancer on May 17, 2011, at age 74
20:35Killebrew had stabilized financially with estimates of $1 to $5 million in net worth from endorsements and residuals
20:41Now, if you think car dealerships are risky businesses for retired athletes
20:45Jack Clark
20:46Well butter my biscuit folks, because we're about to dive into the tale of Jack the Ripper Clark
20:50This four-time all-star slugger who mashed 340 home runs and drove in 1,180 runs earned over $15
20:57million in career salary
20:58Not counting his $1.6 million collusion settlement in 1992
21:02When he was awarded $800,000 each for the 1986 and 1987 seasons
21:08After MLB owners were found guilty of suppressing free agent salaries
21:12Which should have set him up for life if he'd shown even a smidgen of financial restraint
21:16But restraint wasn't in Clark's vocabulary, especially when it came to his most infamous obsession
21:21Luxury automobiles that consumed money faster than a monster truck at a demolition derby
21:26By 1992, while still under contract with the Boston Red Sox earning big league money
21:30Clark owned 18 luxury vehicles including a $717,000 Ferrari F40, a Rolls-Royce, and multiple Porsches
21:38With 17 of them carrying active payment plans that generated over $1 million in monthly obligations he couldn't possibly sustain
21:46The man traded cars out of boredom like normal people swap shoes
21:50Once reportedly dropping $90,000 on two sports cars while en route to a game
21:55Which is the kind of impulse control that makes financial advisors wake up screaming in the middle of the night
22:00His spending extended beyond cars to a $2.4 million mansion in Danville, California purchased during his Cardinals peak
22:08Plus a $55,955 American Express bill that he let ride like it was monopoly money
22:14And in a 1992 New York Times interview, Clark admitted with remarkable self-awareness
22:19This shows everybody what can happen to you if you don't manage your money well
22:22I did it to myself
22:23His post-retirement ventures only dug the hole deeper, including Jack Clark Motorsports
22:28A drag racing team he launched in the late 1980s that burned through over $2 million of his own money
22:34Before collapsing amid unprofitability and forcing liquidation during his 1992 bankruptcy
22:40Clark later attempted house flipping in St. Louis that his attorney described as another money-losing endeavor
22:45Plus he got bilked by unscrupulous advisors
22:48A lawyer and financial planner who, according to a 2009 New York Daily News report
22:52Bilked him out of most of the money he'd been awarded in the collusion settlement
22:56Leaving Clark to sue them in 1997 for mishandling his affairs
22:59His first bankruptcy in July 1992 listed debts between $6.7 million and $11.4 million
23:06Against assets of just $4.8 million
23:09Forcing him to surrender his home, cars, and racing business while still technically employed by the Red Sox
23:14He managed to recover somewhat in the late 1990s
23:17Even owning a Mercedes and a 55 Chevy at one point
23:20But then came round two
23:21A March 2018 Chapter 7 filing with wife Angela in St. Louis
23:25Listing debts between $550,000 and $568,000
23:29Including $210,000 in business loans
23:32And $49,000 owed to the IRS
23:34Against assets of just $25,000
23:37Despite combined annual income of $120,000
23:40Today, at age 69, Clark resides quietly in suburban St. Louis with Angela
23:45Drawing Social Security and pension income that generates roughly $4,488 per month
23:51Against expenses of $8,110
23:53A deficit that tells you everything you need to know about a man who twice filed for bankruptcy
23:58Because he just couldn't resist the siren song of expensive toys and get-rich-quick schemes
24:04Speaking of pitchers who threw away fortunes on failed farms
24:07Gaylord Perry
24:08Good lord in heaven, folks
24:10Let me tell you about Perry
24:11Being the sentimental soul he was
24:13Decided after retirement at age 45 in 1983
24:16That he
24:17Wanted to return to his agricultural roots
24:19Investing much of his baseball nest egg
24:21Likely $1-2 million
24:23Into a 400-500 acre farming operation
24:26Near his family's land in Martin County, North Carolina
24:29Where he cultivated peanuts, soybeans, tobacco, corn, and other crops
24:33With dreams of building a labor of love that would sustain him through his golden years
24:37Now, Perry wasn't dabbling in farming like some rich guy's hobby
24:40This was a serious business venture requiring heavy upfront capital for equipment, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation systems, tractors, and silos
24:49Plus labor costs that aid up cash faster than a combine harvester tears through a cornfield
24:54As a first-generation commercial farmer without formal agricultural training
24:58He borrowed against his baseball assets to expand operations
25:01And right about the time he was getting everything set up
25:04The mid-1980s farm crisis hit America like a Category 5 hurricane
25:08Destroying agricultural operations from sea to shining sea
25:12The perfect storm included falling crop prices and market volatility
25:15As tobacco quotas got slashed under federal policies
25:18And peanut-soybean prices plummeted due to global oversupply
25:22Leaving Perry complaining that all they want is a fair price for their product
25:26But they're not getting that right now
25:27It's just arithmetic and it just caught up with me
25:30In 1985-86, Southeast crop values dropped 20-30%
25:34While input costs for fuel and machinery rose in the opposite direction
25:38Creating a financial vice that crushed farmers like grapes in a wine press
25:42A severe drought gripped the Southeast in 1986
25:45Devastating yields and exacerbating Perry's cash flow problems
25:48While his lawyer Malcolm Howard estimated that 70% of farmers east of Raleigh
25:53Were technically bankrupt due to five straight years of crop failures and bad markets
25:57By August 4, 1986 at age 47
26:00Perry and his wife Blanche had no choice but to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy
26:04In U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilson, North Carolina
26:07Listing $1.2 million in debts from loans, suppliers, and equipment liens
26:12Against $1.1 million in assets that were mostly illiquid
26:15Farm equipment, livestock, and their residence
26:17That got auctioned off for pennies on the dollar after creditor claims
26:20Perry lamented that
26:21We tried everything possible but couldn't win the battle against arithmetic and mother nature
26:25And the bankruptcy stripped him of his lifelong dream
26:28Forcing a move to
26:29Rally and a humbling job as a sales manager for Fiesta Foods
26:33A Texas chip and taco producer
26:34Where the Hall of Famer found himself peddling snacks door to door at age 48
26:38In 2007, Wisconsin listed Perry as owing $1.4 million in back income taxes from his years with the Milwaukee
26:46Brewers
26:47We've come to the end folks
26:48If you enjoyed this clip and wouldn't mind more of such content
26:51Click on the card showing on the screen
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