- Sidd Finch
Sidd Finch was a fictional baseball player, the subject of the notorious article and
April Fools' Day hoax "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" written byGeorge Plimpton and first published in theApril 1 ,1985 issue of "Sports Illustrated ".Hoax
Plimpton reported that Hayden "Sidd" (short for
Siddhartha ) Finch was a rookiebaseball pitcher in training with theNew York Mets . Finch, who had never played baseball before, was attempting to decide between a sports career and one playing theFrench horn . What was astonishing about Finch was that he could pitch afastball at an amazing 168 mph, far above the record of a "mere" 103 mph. He also wore only one shoe—a heavy hiker's boot—when pitching.Finch grew up in an English orphanage and was adopted by an archaeologist who later died in a plane crash in
Nepal . After briefly attendingHarvard University , he went toTibet to learn "yogic mastery of mind-body," which was the source of his pitching prowess.The subhead of the article read: "He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about
yoga — and his future in baseball." The first letters of these words (through "yoga") spell out "HappyApril Fools Day ." Despite this clue and the obvious absurdity of the article, many people believed Finch actually existed. The magazine printed a much smaller article in the followingApril 8 issue announcing Finch's retirement. It then announced it was a hoax onApril 15 .The story was accompanied by photographs of Finch, including one featuring a young
Lenny Dykstra and another of Finch talking with the Mets' actual pitching coach,Mel Stottlemyre . The Mets played along with the hoax, even providing a uniform forJoe Berton , a junior high school art teacher from Oak Park,Illinois , who posed as "Finch" for the photographs (usually with his face averted from the lens).Influence
Plimpton eventually broadened his article into a novel, first published in
1987 .References
*
External links
* [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119283/1/index.htm "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" by George Plimpton]
* [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Sidd_Finch/ Museum of Hoaxes: Sidd Finch]
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