Baseball's Ten Most Wanted

With Lenny Dykstra's most recent incarceration and subsequent trial attaining attention I got to thinking of baseball's most dubious personalities. If the FBI were to assemble a list of ballpark felons who would their top ten be? Let's see...

10.) Ruben Rivera - Wanted for Larceny

Once a promising rookie, this top prospect made the front page of New York Papers for stealing from teammate, Derek Jeter's locker. He subsequently sold Jeter's bat and glove to a memorabilia collector for $2,500. He was voted off of the team by fellow players and traded away.

9.) Dutch Leonard - Wanted for Conspiracy & Extortion

Leonard was said to have proof of game fixing by Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb. Speaker's Indians were to lose to the Tigers thus allowing Detroit the 3rd place money in exchange for a new suit & ties for the sub-par Cleveland Indian ballplayers. Eventually Cobb and Speaker were acquitted for the crime because Leonard refused to testify in person.

8.) Benny Kauff - Wanted For Grand Theft Auto

Kauff was kicked out of baseball in 1920 as a result of his alleged involvement in his brother's automobile theft ring. The duo was said to be stealing cars, taking them to a chop shop, reassembling the vehicles and selling them. Benny Kauff was acquitted of the charges but along with his alleged conspiring to throw ball games for money, he was done in major league baseball.

7.) Pete Rose - Wanted for Gambling on Baseball and Tax Evasion

Pete Rose, with a massive ego left unchecked, vehemently denied ever betting on baseball. Then he published and book and came clean admitting to betting on his team, the Reds. Twenty years before a gambler had come forth to present Peter Ueberroth with proof that Rose was gambling. Subsequent commissioner, A. Bartlett Giamatti threw Rose out of baseball and thus blocking his entry to the hallowed Hall Of Fame. In 1990, he plead guilty to tax evasion and spent five months in jail.

6.) Carl Mays - Wanted for Involuntary Manslaughter and Fraud

After Mays killed Ray Chapman with a pitch he picked up the deflected ball and threw it to first. He then argued that it was Chapman's bat and not his head that made contact with the ball. Chapman started for first but collapsed. When players approached Chapman to help, Mays remained on the mound waiting to restart the game. Mays was never liked by his teammates. Fellow pitcher, Bob Shawkey, recalled the time he sold insurace to Mays for a motorcycle. Mays had made arrangements to have the bike stolen and collect the money.

5.) Hal Chase - Wanted for Fraud and Racketeering

Chase was probably involved in fixing the 1919 World Series. He would at least be wanted for questioning. He defrauded teammates by using fixed dice and card tricks. A slick fielding first baseman was even more sly off the field. It is believed he made more money throwing games than winning them. For his involvement in gambling he was thrown out of baseball in 1920.

4.) Chick Gandil - Wanted for Racketeering

It is thought that Chick Gandil concocted the plan to throw the 1919 World Series. He served as the go-between for payments between and players and gamblers. In the end, Gandil pocketed $35,000 for the fix. Some of the other players received $15,000 or were never paid at all. Like Rose and Chase, he was banished from baseball.

3.) Lenny Dykstra - Wanted for Fraud, Tax Evasion and Hiding Assets from Bankrupty Court

After defaulting on the mortgage for his 17.25 million dollar mansion, Dykstra removed the chandeliers, televisions, stoves, and cabinet hardware. He said he put them in storage, but the government says he auctioned them. He took investor money for a magazine he never published and hid other assets from his bankruptcy case. He faces 25 federal counts and 15 years in prison.

2.) Denny McLain - Wanted for Drug Trafficking, Racketerring, Embezzlement (2X), Mail Fraud and Conspiracy.

McLain was a bookmaker during his playing days and a racketeer in partnership with John Gotti Jr in his post playing days. He was drug runner dealing in cocaine. His most recent tenure in prison was for embezzling from his company's pension fund. He claims he's innocent of these last charges. His worst crime may have putting out organ instrumental albums for Capitol records!

1.) Ty Cobb - Wanted for Four Charges of Assault and Battery and First Degree Murder

After a fan called Cobb a word (a racist epitaph), Cobb flung himself in the stands and blugeoned the man. Teammates had to tear Cobb off of the man. In a different incident, Cobb had re-enacted the crime when he lunged onto the Detroit Tiger's equipment manager. When the man's wife came to her husband's aid, Cobb struck her as well. Years later, Cobb kicked and punched a hunting guide who got he and Cobb lost. Cobb also claims to have stabbed and killed a would-be thief in a Detroit alley in a case of self-defense.