He chuckled when reminded of the difficulty of keeping him on point. “I put the A in A.D.D.,” he said.

Image After serving six and a half months in federal prison, Lenny Dykstra is hoping for another chance at credibility and wealth. Credit... Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Dykstra is living in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and said he had recently completed 500 hours of community service, much of it at the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission, where he served meals to homeless people, helped in the thrift store and asked the Phillies to send memorabilia for an auction. “He was extremely motivated from the start,” said David Faustina, the mission’s general manager.

When Dykstra finally got around to describing his world since his release, he said, “My life for the past year has been my sons, community service, and don’t forget, peeing in the cup.”

He has two years of probation left and is drug-tested every week. He lives with his ex-wife, Terri, who said she had no plans to remarry him.

“He’s definitely been humbled,” she said. “He’s definitely learned what’s important. He’s still Lenny, with that headstrong personality, but he has changed in that he knows what he lost and why that happened. Family comes first to me. And Lenny was always good to me. But for a long time, I couldn’t reason with him. He wouldn’t listen. He was his own worst enemy.”

The details behind his financial downfall and incarceration are too elaborate to render here. But there is this: For a while, he lived a millionaire’s life but ended up bankrupt, jailed on state charges that included grand theft auto, and then in federal prison. The dark side of his recent past does not appear on his website.