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 Finch was a rookie baseball pitcher in training with the New York Mets. According to Plimpton, Finch was raised in an English orphanage, learned yoga in Tibet, and could throw a fastball as fast as 168 miles per hour (270 km/h). Finch pitched wearing one work boot and one bare foot. For the article’s photographs, Sidd Finch was played by Joe Berton, a mild-mannered junior high school art teacher from Illinois.
Note: Despite the obvious absurdity of the article, many people believed Finch actually existed. Plimpton eventually broadened his article into a novel, first published in 1987.
Nice! This is one of the all-time great April Fools’ Day pranks, and thankfully it was pulled off before the Internet age. Otherwise it would’ve been debunked in 14 seconds.