'at Times You Flat Cry'

Q. More than two?

A. That, I don't know.

Q. Can you tell me how you acquired the Piper airplane that is at question?

A. All I know, it was through Mr. Harcourt....

Q. Do you know where you were when the agreement was signed?

A. No, that, I don't....

Q. Did you read this document before you signed it, sir?

A. I can't remember.

But if the athletes were derelict, Harcourt was guilty of sloppy bookkeeping and overspeculation. "He always believed you could go into the gray area of investing," recalls Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, another former client, who sued Harcourt to obtain an accounting of his investments and later settled out of court, "In the short life of a ballplayer, you can't go into gray areas. If the assets aren't any good, and you get audited and can't pay, you have to liquidate."

Some of Harcourt's clients charge that he made little effort to inform his clients about the details of the various deals and, at times, actually discouraged them from getting involved. "It was a fight, a battle to get information," says Campbell's wife Linda. "I never got an answer—just the runaround," says ex-major league pitcher Paul Splittorff, another former Harcourt client.