Where did the story of Sidd Finch originate?”
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. 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, with pinpoint accuracy. 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 art
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. 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, with pinpoint accuracy. 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 art
You can’t really ask “What ever happened to Sidd Finch?” since the New York Mets’ phenom was strictly fictional, the subject in Sports Illustrated’s famous April Fools Day joke 25 years ago today. But remember, there were photos of the now-mythical pitcher in George Plimpton’s gag story. And the model for the shots, a middle-school teacher in Oak Park, Ill. just outside Chicago, is getting a little pub on the anniversary. The Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest gave a nod to local resident Joe Berton, who was a friend of the photographer assigned to the story. (The New York Times caught up with Berton for the 20th anniversary of the issue.) The Journal says a restaurant in nearby Aurora, Ill., will induct Finch into its America’s Legends Museum Thursday night and Berton will be on hand as the Mets jacket and the boots he wore for the photo will be put on display. No word on whether the Cubs will talk to Berton about joining their untested bullpen.
