Ryan Howard Sued His Twin Brother and Parents in an Ugly, Sad, Story About Money

Ryan Howard, the $125 million slugger of the Philadelphia Phillies, just wrapped up a nasty legal fight.

With his family.

Over money.

Any way you slice it, this story is ugly, and you’ll probably feel bad for Howard, regardless of how you feel about his ability to hit a baseball. Via Philly.com:

"The suit details gifts Howard gave to his parents as his fortune grew, including a 2007 BMW, a 2007 Aston Martin, and a 2011 Mercedes GL550 Truck. Howard and his [twin] brother had been roommates throughout their lives, and that continued throughout the early part of Howard’s career."

Nice guy! But the family got greedy.

"Howard claimed that he had paid his family at least $2,795,337.38, all based on his mother’s authorization. Howard claimed that he did not know of these payments until he took over financial control of RJH Enterprises in July of 2012. he told his father that he wanted to take control of his financial affairs and “have his family just be family,” Ron Howard’s response was that “if Ryan wanted him to walk away from Ryan’s business affairs, Ron should receive $5 million himself and Cheryl should receive another $5 million.”"

That’s got to be the most depressing thing I’ve read in sports today. How, as a family, do you rebound from that? [via Philly.com]