This took in a lot of people, including yours truly. For a little while. The NC State fake recruit Dunkito Dal-As was about that time. No internet so you had to peruse papers and SI.
George Plimpton took a new angle for the April 1, 1985 edition of Sports Illustrated by creating a fictional baseball player. As described in his story "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch," the titular ballplayer was a reclusive 28-year-old Harvard dropout who had been trained by Buddhist monks, was fluent in Sanskrit, and played the French horn. He also could throw a baseball at the unheard-of speed of 168 miles per hour, and as such had earned a secret tryout with the New York Mets.
The Mets went along with the story, allowing players and coaches to be photographed with the middle school art teacher who was posing as Finch. Even though Plimpton hinted at the joke with the first letters of the words in the article's subhead — "He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga" (spelling out "Happy April Fools' Day") — the well-executed deception reportedly led to other teams contacting the Mets to learn more about this mysterious pitcher.
George Plimpton took a new angle for the April 1, 1985 edition of Sports Illustrated by creating a fictional baseball player. As described in his story "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch," the titular ballplayer was a reclusive 28-year-old Harvard dropout who had been trained by Buddhist monks, was fluent in Sanskrit, and played the French horn. He also could throw a baseball at the unheard-of speed of 168 miles per hour, and as such had earned a secret tryout with the New York Mets.
The Mets went along with the story, allowing players and coaches to be photographed with the middle school art teacher who was posing as Finch. Even though Plimpton hinted at the joke with the first letters of the words in the article's subhead — "He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga" (spelling out "Happy April Fools' Day") — the well-executed deception reportedly led to other teams contacting the Mets to learn more about this mysterious pitcher.
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