It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 25 years since we first heard about Sidd Finch, the promising Mets hurler who threw in excess of 160 miles per 
hours, played the French horn, and wore one combat boot on the mound.
It may have been nothing but a very elaborate April Fool’s joke courtesy of George Plimpton, but Finch has since become synonymous with Mark Fidrych-type characters. Fans, at least those with a sense of humor, loved the ruse, for several weeks , in fact.
Plimpton turned the article into a full-length novel and both author and fictitious ballplayer are still fondly recalled. (Fifteen years after the story was first published, SI‘s Mark Hofmann went searching for the elusive Finch in the magazine’s annual “Where are they now” issue.)
(See a slideshow of Finch fotos here.)
The Wikipedia entry on Sidd Finch. He can also be found in the on-line Museum of Hoaxes.
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