Is it possible for a person's reputation to be so bad the he
is, in effect, "libel-proof" and not at risk of
"incremental harm" from allegedly defamatory statements?
A recent lawsuit, between two former New York Mets teammates,
addressed that question.
Lenny Dykstra, a former Major League Baseball player, sued his
former Met's teammate Ron Darling, and the publishers St.
Martin's Press, LLC and Macmillan Publishing Group LLC, for
defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, based
upon allegedly defamatory statements about him in the Darling's
book.
In 2019, Darling and his ghostwriter David Paisner, through St.
Martin's and Macmillan, published a book entitled 108
Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters
from My Time in the Game. The book contained a story regarding
an alleged interaction between Dykstra and Boston Red Sox pitcher
Dennis Ray "Oil Can" Boyd during Game 3 of the 1986 World
Series, at which time Dykstra and
