Sports Illustrated's 1985 April Fools story invented Sidd Finch, a fictional New York Mets pitching prospect who supposedly threw 168 miles per hour.
George Plimpton wrote “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch” for the issue dated 1 April 1985. The story claimed that Hayden Siddhartha Finch had grown up in England, learned yogic techniques in Tibet, and developed extraordinary control and speed. It also gave him eccentric habits, including pitching with one bare foot and one heavy hiking boot.
The Mets helped the prank look authentic by providing a uniform and locker, while photographs showed an actor posing as Finch alongside real Mets personnel and players. Some readers and even baseball executives believed the story. A press conference was staged in Florida, where Finch announced his retirement before ever throwing a real major-league pitch.
The fictional player is sometimes confused with movie characters such as Crash Davis, Nuke LaLoosh, or Roy Hobbs. Those are baseball-film figures; Sidd Finch originated in a Sports Illustrated hoax and later appeared in a novel by Plimpton.