MARCH 28, 1985 | The April 1, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated hit the newsstands and mailboxes on this date (the issues always come out a few days early) with the story of Sidd Finch, a New York Mets pitching prospect scouts said could throw 168 MPH with pinpoint accuracy. The article also said Finch never played ball before mastering the art of pitching in a Tibetan monastery. As the story written by George Plimpton unfolded at the Mets spring training camp, anticipation was building as to whether Finch would decide between a baseball career and a career playing the French horn. Was Sidd Finch too good to be true? Yes!
April Fools!
There was no Sidd Finch. There was no French horn. There was no monastery doubling as a pitching school. It was entirely the imagination of writer George Plimpton. The pictures of Sidd were actually those of a junior high school science teacher from Oak Park, Illinois named Joe Berton who was a friend of Plimpton’s.
Sports Illustrated finally admitted it was a hoax on April 15, 1985. Was Sidd Finch too good to be true? Yes he was.
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