1985: Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. In reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.

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This "hoax" was posted as a news story on [url=http://www.planetrugby.com]http://www.planetrugby.com[/url] on 1 April 01.

This is a hoax in the tradition of Sidd Finch, and was perpetrated by, I
think, Doug Crosse, the Canadian reporter on the site. I'm not sure how many
were fooled, but only an American would remember the Sidd Finch story-- and
there aren't a lot of us on rugby sites!

Eng/Can - Young Inuit breaking rugby records with boot

A kicking sensation has emerged from England' s North Midlands that could be
the next coming of Johnny Wilkinson, and this punting prodigy comes via the
North West passage -- specifically Nunavut in Canada 's Northern territory.

Treietiwa Ninrechlinsah (pronounced Nin Wreck lmph), is a 17 year old Inuk
boy who plays for the Old Barhstulians Under-21 squad in Haversham on Kent.

After moving to England with his family 7 months ago Treietiwa ( his friends
call him Trev) , picked up a neighbours rugby ball and began kicking it
around at the local park.

Nigel Havinpynt, a selector for the Old Barhstulians, saw Trev kicking the
leather off the ball and immediately shepherded his find down to the next
training session.

"With his mates he was launching kicks from the hand 80 metres through the
air, and they were bouncing another 15 or 20 for good measure," said
Havinpynt. "I almost swallowed my dentures, but then regained composure and
got him down to the recreation ground the following Tuesday."

At the session coach Liam Evans-Jones spoke with Trev, finding out he had
never seen a game of rugby in his cold northern home much less touched a
ball before being spotted by the selector. Realising that they would have to
move slowly with their new charge Evans-Jones showed him the basics of
kicking, explained the rules a bit and then at the end of the session, they
discovered Trev's true talent -- kicks at goal.

"A few of the lads were horsing around kicking from odd angles, and from
distance-- wagering pints, that sort of thing," explained Evans-Jones. "One
of them asked Trev if he thought he could have a go from the centre of the
pitch. Trev shrugged his shoulders took a two steps back and leathered it.
He cleared the cross bar and could have gone another 20!"

They started testing him from all over the ground, and he did not miss from
any angle or distance inside the 50. After 17 kicks the Barhstulians knew
they had something special.

For his part, the soft spoken Trev doesn't really know what all the fuss is
about.

"It's good for a laugh," said the shy native Canadian, whose father is an
importer of soapstone carvings.

In his first match a week later Trev, a 6' 3" gangly chap that weighs just
over 165 lbs soaking wet played in the second row and proceeded to kick 13
penalties and a conversion in the Barhstulians 4th XV 46-0 win over New Old
Bedford Actuaries XV.

Trev's only miss on the day is when Evans-Jones got cheeky in the last ten
minutes and had him attempt a 70 metre shot into the wind. It had the
distance but got blown just left of the post.

Since that day Trev has moved up to the first XV where his team has gone
16-0. Trev has kicked nearly 90% of the teams 567 points, and with a kicking
accuracy of 98%.

Evans-Jones can only speculate why he is so good, but part of it is just a
natural affinity for kicking. "It's like Tiger Woods golf swing -- no one
knows why it is good it just is, and I'm not one to monkey with it!"

The next move will be for Trev to make the move to the pro game, and he is
already getting scouted by grid iron sides from the United States and his
homeland of Canada.

So what are his plans?

"Finish my school, and when I turn 18 at the start of next April I will look
at my pro options," he says calmly.

And how does he like England? " I would murder some walrus blubber right
now," he says with a grin. "But seriously the weather is nicer than home,
and the birds are more fun too!"

By Avril Unyo
Posted by mat  on  Wed Jun 06, 2001  at  04:56 AM

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One of the beauties of the Sidd Finch story (#2 April Fool story) is that the first letter of each of the first several words of the story spell out "April Fool" or something to this effect if my memory serves me right.

Great site!
Posted by Anonymous  on  Fri Jan 18, 2002  at  08:44 PM

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I'm puzzled. At lunch today, I went into great detail of the amazin' story of Sid Siddhartha Finch. I told all of my "lunch mates" of the great hoax perpetuated on sports fans around the country when S.I. ran that wonderful April Fool's joke. I told them about the Met's prospect from Tibet, the French Horn, the rediculously fast fastball (although I couldn't remember just how fast). I had all the details. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I went online after lunch to prove to everyone about this well calculated hoax, only to discover it took place in 1985. Of course, that doesn't seem that surprising to you because that's apparently when the story ran. My problem is I can nearly pinpoint every detail of this story, down to where I was standing when I first saw the article in Sports Illustrated (in the halls of my High School in Connecticut), the time of day (between 3rd and 4th period) and my feelings of frustration when I was shown the gag before I!
had a chance to be a "victim" of the hoax. In other words, I have a very vivid memory of the whole thing... right down to how the article revealed the joke by beginning each line of the first paragraph with the letters A P R I L F O O L S ...
The only problem is, I graduated high school in 1970!!!!
I have been searching all day to see if I could make sense out of this and have not come up with any evidence to verify my memory. Luckily, I stumbled upon your site at 1:00 a.m. and hope that you might be able to help out. Perhaps, there was a similar hoax in 1970 and I am getting my memories mixed up. Perhaps the joke was played twice. I just don't know... but I can't get any peace until I can make some sense of this. I am hoping that a Museum of Hoaxes surely can shed some much needed light.
Posted by Richard  on  Tue Aug 13, 2002  at  01:54 AM

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When I was in junior high, my applied arts teacher started asking to borrow strange things. One day it was a baseball mitt, the next it was an French Horn. We respected our teachers way back in the eighties and when he gigglingly refused to tell us what was up, several people I knew leant him what he needed for one day. About a month or so later, our classroom was filled with reporters, and my teacher, whose name I could probably look up somewhere but can't remember, was grinning. And we were all happy to have a day off of making clay renderings of our dream houses. We understood that it was big, but only when a restaurant opened in his alias and we all had plenty of time to read the Sports Illustrated article, did we realize how big. My applied arts teacher was Sidd Finch. And that was my friend Trip's French Horn.
Posted by Leigh  on  Tue Apr 01, 2003  at  12:54 AM

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I happen to be another of the Junior High kids whose shop teacher was the guy who appears in the Sidd Finch photos. If I recall his name was Joe Berton or Bertoncini perhaps. This was at Hawthorne junior high in Oak Park, IL. I remember Joe (Sidd) was helping me make a wooden holder for my Atari joystick. He was a great guy, humorous and lively.
Posted by Tom Morrow  in  California  on  Tue Mar 30, 2004  at  08:22 PM

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Sid Finch was *not* a hoax! He was the real thing. Major League baseball felt threatened that this could destabalize the game. He was kidnapped by government agents. He is believed to be kept in a secret facility at Area 51, where secret experiments are still being conducted.

Pete Rose is reported to be involved on the project. His ban from baseball is a ruse to cover his participation.


Posted by Tom Rialla  in  Kansasville, Kansas  on  Wed Mar 31, 2004  at  11:05 AM

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jebo vas finch!!!!
Posted by miro  in  deutchland  on  Thu Apr 01, 2004  at  06:53 AM

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i think that he is a fony and that noone can pitch that fast besauce i am i lady into softball and ive never seen a pitch that fast even at the major league baseball games ive attended

Posted by Holly Simmons  on  Thu Apr 01, 2004  at  01:21 PM

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the imagination is such a great thing
Posted by ace maverick  in  WA  on  Thu Apr 01, 2004  at  02:08 PM

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I'm surprised no one sued them for libel.
Posted by Erin  in  MA  on  Mon May 31, 2004  at  03:24 PM

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Sidd Finch may have been a hoax, but there was a pitcher who did manage to make it up to 108 mph. And this was when he was tired! Estimates are usually placed that he threw somewhere between 110 and 120 mph. His name was Steve Dalkowski, a lefthander from New Britain, CT who played in the Baltimore Orioles system. He would've been amazing if only he could find the strike zone. He was wild, very wild. He once k'd 262 and walked 262 in 170.2 innings. He wasn't wild in the conventional sense (in and out), though. He threw his pitches sometimes up to 20 feet over the plate. He ruined his arm in 1963. Don't believe me?
1. Do a Google search. You'll find lots of info on this guy.
2. He had a baseball card. 1963 Topps #496. The card is shared with Fred Newman, Carl Bouldin, and Jack Smith. I don't know much about Newman, but Bouldin threw in the low- to mid-90's. Then he wrecked his arm. Jack Smith was a junkballer who just never worked out. Won over 100 minor league games, though, mostly in the Dodgers and Braves organizations.
Posted by Anonymous  on  Mon Jun 14, 2004  at  08:01 PM

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i found something from this site about the little clues.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/siddfinch.html

"The sub-heading 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 ‰ÛÓand his future in baseball." The first letter of each of these words, taken together, spells "H-a-p-p-y A-p-r-i-l F-o-o-l-s D-a-y."'
Posted by pb  in  er  on  Tue Nov 02, 2004  at  10:41 AM

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wow joe berton is my uncle..i just found out about this story at the last reunion we had a week ago ..weird ..but fun
Posted by allegra  on  Thu Jun 16, 2005  at  05:40 PM

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Dalkowski I recently discovered, & is real. How fast he was is unknown, though the above comment that estimates (themselves opure guesswork) threw between 115-120 MPH is innacurate. Looking through MANY sites & articles where he is mentioned, the last # commonly mentioned is 110 MPH-some wisely just say 100+.

But there are enough minor & major leaguers, inc. Earl Weaver (who worked w/him patiently, extensively, & pretty successfully) & Ted Williams, sho testify to his unique speed, that I accept he was likely the fastest ever, a genetic freak.
Posted by michael felber  in  New York City  on  Mon Aug 01, 2005  at  07:02 PM

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For 20 plus years I have been under the impression that the story of Sidd Finch was true. I never saw the April 15th 1985 issue of sports Illustrated that Plimpton had perpetrated a hoax.
The part that had me most baffled was Plimpton stating that Sidd played the French horn every bit as well as both Dennis Brain and Anton Horner. Brain and Horner are considered by most to be the two greatest horn players that ever lived. I played the horn professionally and was in shock when I first read the article in 1985. I had never heard of Sidd Finch nor would I ever hear of him again pertaining to the horn. Now I realize why. I have been had! I am partly relieved yet also saddened.
Posted by anonymous  in  CA  on  Thu Dec 29, 2005  at  09:29 PM

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The year is wrong... this was published in Sports Illustrated sometime between 1981 and 1983.
Posted by Super Sportster  in  New England  on  Sun Mar 12, 2006  at  08:22 AM

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sidd finch did throw 168mph many people say that the story was not ture but it is i have wittnessed it.
Posted by michael  in  toronto  on  Sat Apr 01, 2006  at  06:23 PM

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sidd the man who threw 168 mph many belive it was a hoax but it was not i am his brother and when he was trying out i was there and i saw him throw that pitch and there was one other person there with me and that man's name was micheal
Posted by allan finch  in  totonto  on  Sat Apr 01, 2006  at  06:42 PM

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Sidd was a great hoax; I remember the story and, a few days later, the revelation.

But Dalkowski was real. Google "fastest pitch ever" and you'll find him mentioned among the likes of Bob Feller, who once claimed to have been clocked at 108 mph. No one knows if that's true, but everyone knew enough not to contradict Feller; he'd throw at the on-deck batter if he didn't like the look on his face.
Posted by AJ  in  New York  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  09:57 AM

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Steve Dalkowski was a scary guy. A couple of years ago I tried to find his Major League stats, but he never pitched in the Majors.

And as for Siddhartha Finch: Siddhartha is not just from Hesse's book. Buddha's name was Siddhartha Gautama. It's been a long time since I read Hesse's Siddhartha, but as I recall there is one scene in the book where he sees Buddha, so he was not the same person as Buddha in the book, unless I am missing some mystical meaning to that scene. None of the people mentioned in this paragraph ever pitched in the Majors!
Posted by Vaughn  in  Texas  on  Mon Aug 14, 2006  at  07:12 PM

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