"Babe, could you do me a HUGE favor and bail Dad out?"

FWIW he was 7th in OBP in the Midwest League at age 21, everyone above him was older than him except one guy (Mike Trout)
Trouble was he just went poof in the Carolina League the next year, and was demoted back down to low A last year- where he was decent- but decent at age 23 in low A is not good.

His dad Lenny spent 3 years in Low A for reasons that escape me, especially since he hit .291/.425/.378 his second year there, what reason was there to have him go back to Low A - spend a whole nother year there hitting .358/.472/.503 with 107 steals?


Lenny was never talked about by the Mets as a prospect, by the time he'd hit AAA, and was promoted when Mookie was injured the announcers basically referred to him as a placeholder pending the arrival of the real Met CF of the future, Stanley Jefferson-
Jefferson had been a 1st round pick, and apparently could beat Lenny in a footrace (no small feat)- but Lenny was YOUNGER and had consistently outplayed Jefferson at every level, which as far as I could tell was noticed by just 2 people at the time- Bill James and Billy Beane- Beane* had been teammate of Dykstra and was impressed by Dykstra's ability to NOT BE IMPRESSED- Dykstra just went out and played.

Anyway, Dykstra was promoted in 1985 when Mookie was hurt because he was in AA, and Jefferson was in AA, - Dykstra wasn't great in '85, but he seemingly overnight impressed the MEts with the fact that he: A. was fast; B. covered a lot of ground in the CF; C. understood the concept of the strike zone and the ball/strike count (aided by the act that Davey Johnson appreciated such a knack in players- not all managers did or do-

the odd part was that Dykstra's rookie season- which should have been disappointing considering his minor league track record- was actually seen by Met decision makers as an unexpectedly pleasant surprise, and Jefferson the former 1st round pick CF of the future was suddenly expendable.

*For seemingly years the Mets touted Stawberry/Beane and Jefferson as being potentially one of the all time great OFs, all 3 were 1st round picks, all three were "natural" CFs (in fact if nothing else I suspect that an OF with all playing at the same time would have been stunning- each man did have CF speed)

Both Beane and Jefferson hit well enough in the high minors that their subsequent complete failure to hit at all in the MLB is somewhat puzzling...

Dykstra has played five seasons in the minors without advancing past Single-A

Didn't Lenny misappropriate or otherwise manage to lose the kid's signing bonus? Ms. Sigler should insist on a pre-nup.

All I know is there something really, really, really wrong in my mind with the fact that 31 yo Jamie-Lynn Sigler is robbing the cradle/just barely getting under the age/2 + 7 rule to snag Lenny Dykstra's son.

I wish I could enjoy this story -- there are so many great avenues available -- but it's inescapably the most depressing news I've read all day.

Does anyone else sense a reality series in the making here? Does she have any vapid sisters to spice up the slow moments?

Have fun being a dad in a year's time, Cutter.

Does anyone else sense a reality series in the making here? Does she have any vapid sisters to spice up the slow moments?

I think she is the vapid sister.

I think she is the vapid sister.

You need a gaggle to compete with the Kardashians.

Awesome. If I recall Jamie-Lynn is one of those trailer trash names from TED right? That explains things....

Poor Turtle.

Didn't Lenny misappropriate or otherwise manage to lose the kid's signing bonus? Ms. Sigler should insist on a pre-nup.

How much money could she have though? "The Sopranos" have been off the air for a while and I cant imagine there being that much in residuals for her.

How much money could she have though? "The Sopranos" have been off the air for a while and I cant imagine there being that much in residuals for her.

The Heidi Fleiss bio had to have been huge, though, right?

Have fun being a dad in a year's time, Cutter.

I dunno - the kid seems to have a hard time getting past second base.

“People” magazine notes that Sigler was previously married to a guy named A.J. DiScala and has dated Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and “Entourage” actor Jerry Ferrera. So she has what I’d call interesting taste.

from the article.

let's see ... gandolfini seems to be keeping busy, but not making great choices in what he works on, though i really liked 'cinema verite', the movie about the loud family ... edie falco is doing okay as nurse jackie ... michael imperioli was on 'law and order' for a while ... then a pretty big dropoff. who am i missing?

AJ doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. all those cool supporting players have pretty much disappeared. they must be a little disappointed that being in the sopranos didn't translate into much of anything. frank vincent, the guy who played phil leotardo had a pretty good career before the sopranos, but since ... meh.

a couple or three of the Sopranos bit players are in Golden Boy, which is the best-reviewed Broadway show of the year. (Though I actually think the Letts Cuckoo's Nest is better.)

“People” magazine notes that Sigler was previously married to a guy named A.J. DiScala and has dated Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and “Entourage” actor Jerry Ferrera. So she has what I’d call interesting taste.

Think they forgot to put in quote marks around quarterback and actor.

almost everybody that was in the sopranos had a guest appearance of one kind or another on 'law and order'. john ventimiglia, imperioli, falco, some of the guys from the jersey crew, a bunch of others whose names i don't remember. its like the wire. you figured all these guys would start showing up in movies and tv, and ... zip.

btw, prop joe from the wire just died last week.

It's hard to break out of any TV series into a feature film career, even as a character actor – the public has seen way more of you than any film actor ever gets seen, and associates you with your role indelibly. That's been a rule of thumb pretty much since the advent of TV, with enough occasional exceptions that people still hope for the best.

The realistic upside potential is to go into another hit series, as some stars from Six Feet Under did. Imperioli tried that with a show called Detroit 1-8-7 that got a lot of hype and didn't last long. Having been a star in your last series does not inoculate you against the typical failure rate of new series, which is harrowing.

Gandolfini seems to be keeping busy, but not making great choices in what he works on, though i really liked 'cinema verite', the movie about the loud family ...

Check out Killing Them Softly. Great film that he absolutely steals despite only twenty minutes of screen time.

It's hard to break out of any TV series into a feature film career, even as a character actor – the public has seen way more of you than any film actor ever gets seen, and associates you with your role indelibly. That's been a rule of thumb pretty much since the advent of TV, with enough occasional exceptions that people still hope for the best.

Instead of becoming a star of movies, it seems like the route to success is to appear in 20 movies a year for 8 minutes each, like the dad from Friday Night Lights and the guy from Breaking Bad.

Gandolfini is awesome in In The Loop too.

It's hard to break out of any TV series into a feature film career, even as a character actor – the public has seen way more of you than any film actor ever gets seen, and associates you with your role indelibly. That's been a rule of thumb pretty much since the advent of TV, with enough occasional exceptions that people still hope for the best.

And the winners are...

Bruce Willis (Moonlighting)
George Clooney (ER and a small part in Rosanne)
Will Smith (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
Sally Field (Gidget and The Flying Nun)
Robin Williams (Mork & Mindy)
Jennifer Aniston (Friends)

And the winners are...

and Steve Carrell.

George Clooney (ER and a small part in Rosanne)

Ah, forgetting his epic mullet as the hunky handyman in "The Facts of Life"? Wise decision.

Warren Beatty (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis)
Clint Eastwood (Rawhide)
Johnny Depp (21 Jump Street)
Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies)
John Travolta (Welcome Back, Kotter)
Several examples from "Saturday Night Live" headed by Eddie Murphy; plus Jim Carrey (In Living Color).

SNL has to be its own category.

Will Smith was already quite famous pre-Fresh Prince.

Leonardo DiCaprio started as a TV actor - I remember him from Growing Pains.

Ryan Gosling came from the Mickey Mouse Club before hitting it big in Hollywood - probably not quite the same.

NPH.

If Jennifer Aniston's film career qualifies her, I don't see how you can discount any of the other cast members of the same show. I'd actually argue that Matthew Perry was a bigger movie star than Aniston (on career value, though Courtney Cox might have a case as well), but Lisa Kudrow is the only one of the six of them who seems to get regular work.

I think that Lenny is the most underrated player of the last 25 years. His effectiveness per game was outstanding, and he's almost like an 1890s player. Incapable of staying on the field, done at 33. It's crazy; his skill set was the exact archetype of a centerfielder of that era.

If Jennifer Aniston's film career qualifies her, I don't see how you can discount any of the other cast members of the same show. I'd actually argue that Matthew Perry was a bigger movie star than Aniston (on career value, though Courtney Cox might have a case as well), but Lisa Kudrow is the only one of the six of them who seems to get regular work.

Aniston's at least had a more consistent film career; she's still starring in movies. Perry, Cox and Kudrow are doing tv now, LeBlanc has only done tv and I think Schwimmer does theater.

She would probably have to be pretty vapid at 31 to be in "love" with a 23 year old.

22 & 24: I'd add:

James Garner (Maverick)
Steve McQueen (Wanted: Dead or Alive)

Roger Moore
James Coburn

But, yes, generally it is difficult to ascend from TV to movies. Most in TV will never make it big in movies, although it seems to be the case that some descend from movies to TV, as they did from the beginning (Fred MacMurray, Robert Young, Loretta Young, Barbara Stanwyck).

Michael J Fox (Family Ties)
Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe (Neighbours)

Jason Segal is doing about two movies a year, and he's still on his crappy TV show.

All I know is there something really, really, really wrong in my mind

The first step is getting past denial.

Gandolfini nearly ruined Zero Dark Thirty for me.

Say what you want about Lenny and his progency, but for Meadow it's a step up from Jackie Junior.

Jason Segal is doing about two movies a year, and he's still on his crappy TV show.

And has threatened to leave it just about every single year. They're paying him through the butt though which is why he stays on. Hard to pass up $10-15 million for essentially three days of work for 26 weeks out of the year.

Aniston's at least had a more consistent film career; she's still starring in movies. Perry, Cox and Kudrow are doing tv now, LeBlanc has only done tv and I think Schwimmer does theater.

LeBlanc has not only done tv. Schwimmer has not only done tv. They each were in a half-dozen or so major Hollywood films, most in starring roles. Cox had the Scream franchise plus like another dozen movies. Perry did the 'Yards' movies with Bruce Willis plus Fools Rush In (underrated bad movie), and an assortment of other roles. Kudrow's been in a ton of stuff. You're right that Aniston has had more consistent and regular major roles, though, I'd evidently forgotten almost everything she's done since the movie where she boned Jake Gyllenhaal before he was JAKE GYLLENHAAL.

And has threatened to leave it just about every single year. They're paying him through the butt though which is why he stays on. Hard to pass up $10-15 million for essentially three days of work for 26 weeks out of the year.

Hell yeah, more power to him! The Muppet movie alone has earned him a life time of goodwill from me and it's not like that's his only work I like.

So we all agree they were all killed in the diner, right?

22 & 24: I'd add:

James Garner (Maverick)
Steve McQueen (Wanted: Dead or Alive)

Roger Moore
James Coburn

yes and of course Clint Eastwood-Rawhide

Woody Harrelson - Cheers

Only one season and many of them used Apatow to jump to the big screen but:
Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Jason Segel on Freaks and Geeks.

That show had such a great cast.

Good call on Freaks and Geeks. Martin Starr is also doing a lot of movies.

My predictions for tomorrow's movie stars that started on tv: Charlie Day, Aubrey Plaza and Jesse Plemmons.

LeBlanc has only done tv

Yes, but Episodes is the best thing any of them have done post-Friends.

LeBlanc has only done tv

How soon we forget the Lost in Space movie. So, so bad.

And in the oft-underrepresented African-American category:
Denzel Washington (St. Elsewhere)
Marisa Tomei (A Different World). No, she's not actually African-American, but the cast of the show she was on was. Plus, man, she's Marisa Tomei
Jamie Foxx (In Living Color)
Don Cheadle (Golden Girls spin-off Golden Palace, plus China Beach)
Morgan Freeman (The Electric Company)

So while it may be hard to break out of the TV box and into a movie career, it's also true that many of our very biggest movie stars did it (Hanks, Willis, Clooney, Denzel, Eastwood, DiCaprio). There are no small parts, only small actors.

Denzel Washington (St. Elsewhere)

David Morrison, Bruce Greenwood and Alfre Woodard were also on that show, though they are supporting actors. Mark Harmon, too, but if he made movies, it didn't seem to stick.

Only one season and many of them used Apatow to jump to the big screen but:
Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Jason Segel on Freaks and Geeks.

The success rate from the young people on that show was amazing. Virtually every one of them has gone on to work fairly consistently, which is truly impressive when you're dealing with actors that age.

Excellent post #2. the real reason BTF is a good read

Both Beane and Jefferson hit well enough in the high minors that their subsequent complete failure to hit at all in the MLB is somewhat puzzling...

Without actually looking it up, because really, who has time for that, didn't Beane have an injury that derailed him?

Not to mention Tom Selleck (Magnum) although he's now gone back to TV. He almost became Indiana Jones.

He almost became Indiana Jones

I think it's the huge number of "almosts" from the ranks of TV stars that I was most thinking of in #18. Selleck had some interesting light film roles (diapering in 3 Men & a Baby, kissing Kevin Kline in In & Out; heck, even Mr Baseball is a better movie than one feared), but never became a film star, either as a box-office leading-man draw or a consistent character presence. I'd compare (in a cautionary way) Jon Hamm, an equally charismatic big TV star right now. He was not bad in The Town. He may still make great movies. But it's usually fair to reckon that if someone does really great TV, that's as good as it will get; enjoy it now.

Ryan Gosling came from the Mickey Mouse Club before hitting it big in Hollywood - probably not quite the same.

Ryan Gosling was on a show called Breaker High for a few years. He was a little waify preppy boy, hard to believe how much he's grown up.

age/2 + 7 rule

Not sure if I've ever heard of this rule, but is it wrong to be proud that I am breaking it? I am 36 and my girlfriend is only 24. Plus I will be 37 before she turns 25.

As a note on Jason Segal, he gets paid the same as the Robin, Lilly, and Ted characters on the show, but NPH still gets paid the most. I think Segal makes about 100K an episode if I remember correctly, which puts his yearly salary somewhere closer to 2.5 million than the 10-15 mentioned above. He was the lone holdout for the 9th season though, but in December signed on, mostly because of camaraderie for the other cast members and not wanting to leave them high and dry. But all of them also have decent movie careers as well.

So we all agree they were all killed in the diner, right?

All killed? Why all of them? Tony, sure. But why would they kill the rest, and what would draw you to that conclusion?

But it's usually fair to reckon that if someone does really great TV, that's as good as it will get; enjoy it now.

This is certainly true, especially because there just can't be all that many movie stars. But I think there's a "looks like a damn movie star" exception - see Clooney, Depp, and Franco. Hamm is just impossibly good-looking.

And in the oft-underrepresented African-American category:

Dennis Haysbert started out in TV. Recurring roles on firehouse drama Code Red, garment district sitcom Off the Rack, afternoon soap The Young and the Restless, and Growing Pains spinoff Just the Ten of Us before his first film role (as Pedro Cerrano in Major League). It probably helped that none of his series were particularly successful, so the public didn't associate him too closely with any of the roles.

Actually, there are a surprising number of major actors and actresses who started out on soaps. Meg Ryan, Kathleen Turner, Ray Liotta, Marisa Tomei, etc. Kevin Bacon too, more or less, though he technically broke in with a bit part in Animal House. A lot of them seem kind of embarrassed by that now, though I don't see why - it's not highbrow material, but it's steady work for a beginner, and a good opportunity to do a lot of acting in a hurry.

Say what you want about Lenny and his progency, but for Meadow it's a step up from Jackie Junior.

he was shot by some guy in see-through socks.

So we all agree they were all killed in the diner, right?

not a chance. tony goes on being a boss, but he either gets killed or ends up in jail and his family has to figure things out, the way the sacrimonis and christopher's widow did. i can't speak for chase, but i think he must have felt those were really the only options, and it would just be more of the same as what had been going on, so there was no point.

There was a TV series on FOX called Get Real that only lasted 22 episodes but starred both Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg as siblings.

Meg Ryan, Kathleen Turner, Ray Liotta, Marisa Tomei, etc. Kevin Bacon

Demi Moore started on General Hospital. SUCH a crush on her when I was younger and caught her there.

Jamie Foxx (In Living Color)

Jim Carrey, the same (though he was a good spot for a hair metal band singer in the Dead Pool, was also in Peggy Sue Got Married, pre-Living Color.

Jim Carrey, the same (though he was a good spot for a hair metal band singer in the Dead Pool, was also in Peggy Sue Got Married, pre-Living Color.

Am I the only one who remembers The Duck Factory? I mean, I don't remember much about it, but remember watching it. IIRC Carrey played the role fairly straight.