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 by George Plimpton and first published in the April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated. Contents [hide] <LI class=toclevel-1>1 Hoax <LI class=toclevel-1>2 Influence <LI class=toclevel-1>3 References 4 External links [edit] Hoax Plimpton reported that Hayden "Sidd" (short for Siddhartha) Finch was a rookie baseball pitcher in training with the New York Mets. Finch, who had never played baseball before, was attempting to decide between a sports career and one playing the French horn. What was astonishing about Finch was that he could pitch a fastball 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 attending Harvard University, he went to Tibet 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 spell out "Happy April 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 following April 8 issue announcing Finch's retirement. It then announced it was a hoax on April 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 for Joe 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). [edit] Influence Plimpton eventually broadened his article into a novel, first published in 1987. [edit] References Plimpton, George (2008). The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. New York, NY: Four Walls Eight Windows. ISBN 1-56858-296-X. [edit] External links The Curious Case of Sidd Finch by George Plimpton Museum of Hoaxes: Sidd Finch Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidd_Finch" Categories: April Fools' Day | Journalistic hoaxes | Nonexistent people | Fictional baseball players Views <LI class=selected id=ca-nstab-main>Article <LI id=ca-talk>Discussion <LI id=ca-edit>Edit this page History Personal tools Log in / create account Navigation <LI id=n-mainpage-description>Main page <LI id=n-contents>Contents <LI id=n-featuredcontent>Featured content <LI id=n-currentevents>Current events Random article Search Interaction <LI id=n-aboutsite>About Wikipedia <LI id=n-portal>Community portal <LI id=n-recentchanges>Recent changes <LI id=n-contact>Contact Wikipedia <LI id=n-sitesupport>Donate to Wikipedia Help Toolbox <LI id=t-whatlinkshere>What links here <LI id=t-recentchangeslinked>Related changes <LI id=t-upload>Upload file <LI id=t-specialpages>Special pages <LI id=t-print>Printable version <LI id=t-permalink>Permanent link Cite this page
Anybody else swallow Plimpton's great article in SI besides me? I bit hook, line and sinker. I remember Plimpton himself was fooled a year earlier by an April fool's day article about a zen master who trained for and broke the world record in the marathon by an incredible hour and a half. After the fictitional zen runner crossed the finish line, he kept running and had to be chased down by race officials to be told the race was over and that he won. The zen marathoner apparently mistakenly thought the marathon was 24 hours not 24 miles !! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/magazine/09/26/plimpton.finch/
not sure why SD st isn't a baseball powerhouse. i went on vacation there last year and the weather is perfect (duh). the women are alot hotter than in l.a. and tony gwynn is the coach. Who wouldn't want to go there?
Strasburg is scheduled to pitch on TV this Friday, April 24th at 8:00 p.m. CDT. The game will be broadcast by The Mtn., channel 616 on DirecTV. DVR is set! I knew SDSU had some upcoming TV games, so in effort to catch a Strasburg game I watched SDSU's press conference. Their coach said specifically that Strasburg will be pitching in Friday's televised game...
I did bite on that article ...It was in Sports illustrated so that gave it some weight...and i was pretty young.
