I’m Hall of Fame pitcher who blew fortune on horses and bad investments and had to take $50k office job
The waxed handlebar mustache is as recognizable as the moon.
Rollie Fingers is arguably the greatest relief pitcher that the sport of baseball has ever seen.
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He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, after a rather uncomfortable wait.
But he made it in all the same.
However, there was a moment in time where the three-time World Series champion with the Oakland A's, seven-time All-Star and AL MVP and Cy Young winner with the Milwaukee Brewers, found himself filing for bankruptcy.
In a Los Angeles Times feature in 1991, a young Bob Nightengale
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Fingers was unable to afford to buy a house, or even be lent credit cards, due to bad investments that forced him into bankruptcy.
Hawaiian timeshares, wind turbines, and Arabian horses were the biggest culprits in Fingers losing his money.
He was $4.2 million in debt at the time.
The baseball icon -- part of the A's famed Mustache Gang -- had listed his assets at more than $5 million in court records in the mid-1980s, while still recovering from bankruptcy.
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“Once you file for bankruptcy, your credit is shot,” Fingers told Nightengale.
“No one’s going to loan me money for a house. No one’s going to give me a loan for a car. I can’t even get a credit card.
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“You try not to think about it, but when you do, you look back and just think how stupid you were.”
Fingers had to eventually get a corporate sales job at NTN Entertainment Network that paid him less than $50,000 a year.
“When you got four kids at home, and rent each month, that doesn’t go real far,” Fingers said at the time.
“But I’m not bitter about it. I made a mistake, and now I’m paying for it.”
Life moved fast for Fingers.
“The big mistake I made was trusting people," he said.
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"I never thought they’d screw me, but that’s what happened.”
That was all over 30 years, as Fingers and his family have since moved on and have been able to move past that dark time.
Fingers has since become an alumni ambassador for the A's, frequently showing up at games and participating in various charity events.
From Arabian horses to the Hall of Fame, it turned out alright for old Rollie.
And if you ever need to find him, there's a good chance he's on a golf course somewhere, twiddling his fingers through his waxed handlebar mustache.
Fingers isn't the only former MLB star to blow his fortune.
But while the riches to rags stories are plentiful, there's numerous wholesome career arcs of former MLB stars.
MLB Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history.
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The Hall of Famer earned over $172 million across 22 seasons in MLB, but following his 2010 retirement, the work hasn't stopped.
The former Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds star picked up a camera in 2015, and he hasn’t put it down since.
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Griffey was behind the camera as a credentialed photographer for Masters.com, taking his place on the green as all eyes were on Rory McIlroy complete the career Grand Slam last week.
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