The former all-star lets this tidbit hang in the air for a few seconds, eyes twinkling mischievously, until he can't hold in the smile any longer.

Out comes the truth: "I'm still mastering the English language."

That's more like it. That's the Lenny Dykstra baseball fans knew and loved - or loathed: the diving, dirt-stained player as rough as his nickname, "Nails."

He is pretty much the last guy you would expect to be staring out from a glossy magazine page, posed in an expensive suit and presented as the model for how ex-athletes can succeed in retirement.

"I kind of like it that way," Dykstra says. "I like to pretend I got hit by a lot of pitches."

But there he is, next to an article sprinkled with words like convoluted, acquiesce and sublimating. He's a stock-picks guru. He's the owner of Wayne Gretzky's old house. And now he's the founder of a magazine and business venture that promise to help pro athletes "keep living the dream."

Gracing the cover of last month's inaugural issue of Players Club was Derek Jeter, a baseball star with the sort of wholesome image never attached to Dykstra, who was put on probation by Major League Baseball for gambling; who crashed his sports car into trees and was charged with drunken driving; and who was one of the first major-leaguers to be widely rumored to use steroids, before being named in the Mitchell Report (he has denied the steroid allegations).

Even in his second career as a businessman, the rough edges haven't been totally smoothed out. There was a messy lawsuit brought by a longtime friend and business partner over Dykstra's lucrative car-wash operation. He was sued again in February by an accounting firm.

And now he is involved in another suit with the company that initially published Players Club. In a federal court filing, Doubledown Media describes Dykstra as a "mercurial, difficult client" and raises questions about his financial stability.

Sitting in the restaurant of a swanky New York hotel in January, laptop on and briefcase by his side, Dykstra veered between the roles of savvy businessman and dimwitted jock. His lone language is best described as surfer-dudese, spoken in a tone that tends to make him sound puzzled.

"Reading's hard for me," he said at one point. "I can't concentrate for long in one place."

But get him talking about baseball and he can rattle off the odds of getting a hit with a 1-2 count vs. a 2-1 count.

And when it comes to business?

In a few years, Dykstra went from a guy who couldn't tell a dividend from a divot to the author of a popular stock-picking column on TheStreet.com, the prominent financial Web site founded by TV host Jim Cramer.

"When I was playing baseball," Dykstra said, "I didn't even know what a stock was."

Then he "got smoked" in the market downturn of 2002. His $2 million investment shriveled to $400,000, Dykstra said.

He asked the "mutual-fund bozo" what had happened to the assurances that his blue-chip stocks were safe.

"He's trying to explain to me what happened, and I felt like a raisin," Dykstra said. "I didn't know what he was saying."

Humiliated, he vowed never to feel that way again.

Since doing a lot of reading wasn't going to happen, he bought business DVDs and CDs and listened to them in the car. He subscribed to about 30 financial newsletters. Clicking on the favorites menu on his Web browser, Dykstra showed off the long list of sites he regularly checked out.

The inspiration behind his magazine is the pro athlete who feels like a raisin when financial terms are tossed around - and doesn't want to anymore. Dykstra described his column at the front of each issue as "everything that the players want to say or ask but they're afraid to, because people think they're like a wimp."

The magazine isn't available on newsstands or by standard subscription. It's sent free to all athletes in MLB; in the NFL, NBA and NHL; and in the top levels of golf, tennis, auto racing and soccer.

Dykstra's bet is that advertisers will pay top dollar for access to such a wealthy readership. Open up the debut issue of Players Club and there on the first two pages is an ad for Mercedes-Benz.

Players Club mixes profiles of athletes who have thrived in the business world with buying guides to high-end merchandise. Dykstra also has a partnership with AIG, and he promotes its annuities in the magazine as a way for athletes to sustain their wealth.

All of one issue had been printed by Doubledown Media before Dykstra was filing a complaint in federal court against the company, alleging breach of contract. In its response, Doubledown Media contends Dykstra owes it nearly $600,000.

As he has regarding the other lawsuits, Dykstra says he has done nothing wrong.

Paunchy, walking slightly hunched, his cell phone ringing an Elton John song, Dykstra, 45, added "with a lot of mileage" when he talked about his age. He no longer looked much like the base-stealing, leadoff-hitting centerfielder who played for the Phillies and the New York Mets. Dykstra said the only former teammate he remained close to was Dave Hollins, the former Phillies third baseman, whose brother is his broker.

The rough edges of Dykstra's playing days were back in the news in December, when he was named in MLB's investigation of performance-enhancing drugs. The Mitchell Report said that around 2000, Dykstra admitted to officials in the commissioner's office that he had used steroids.

Dykstra denied that had happened. "I didn't take steroids," he said. "I put my time in the weight room."