My Favorite April Fool's Day Gag

[sdelmonte]

It was 24 years ago, right at the point when the Mets were starting to be good for the first time in years, and when I was becoming a baseball fanatic. This article showed up in Sports Illustrated. About a phenom in the Mets' farm system named Sidd (short for Siddhartha) Finch, who could throw a baseball at 168 mph and pitched with one bare foot and one in a hiking boot. It was too good to be true, but my classmates and I bought it. This guy was going to be It. The guy who would join Strawberry and Gooden and the rest and bring the Mets to the top.

Naturally, it WAS too good to be true, merely a clever and smartly written hoax from George Plimpton (with the help of the Mets). But I still love how I feel for the gag, and how it's stuck with me for all these years.

So here's to the most amazing pitcher who never was, and to the late Mr. Plimpton for making us believe.

Comments

[bigfluffball.livejournal.com]

I remember one in the paper once about an automatic lawn mowing robot; that was quite funny.