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Yesterday I saw several references to the Sports Illustrated article of "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch." It was written in 1985, and I still remember four guys huddled around it at the Baylor Law School library where, like most days, I was spending my time. They were "oohing" and "ahhing" and dropping some "you've got to be kidding me's." All I could gather was that there was about to be a new pitcher in the Major Leagues the likes of which had never been seen.
I care about baseball about as much as I do now (very little), so I never got around to reading the article after them. But, whatever it said that day, they all absolutely believed it. And it had a credible author: The great George Plimpton.
But it turned out to be a hoax with the first and only clue being that this particular issue of SI had a date of April 1, 1985.
I finally looked at the article yesterday and quickly came upon this tidbit: The mysterious Sidd Finch's fastball was clocked at 168 miles per hour. Really? And people bought that?
