Fictional pitcher Sidd Finch was said to throw a fastball at 168 mph.
The character appeared in a 1985 Sports Illustrated April Fools' story written by George Plimpton. The article presented Hayden Siddhartha “Sidd” Finch as a mysterious New York Mets prospect discovered in Maine, with an astonishing ability to throw harder and more accurately than any real pitcher.
The hoax gave Finch an elaborate backstory. He had supposedly learned yogic control in Tibet, could pitch without warming up, and was deciding between a baseball career and playing the French horn. His reported 168 mph fastball was far beyond the real record at the time, making the claim an important clue that the story was fictional.
The Mets helped sell the joke by providing a uniform and involving real players and staff in photographs. Finch was also shown wearing one heavy hiking boot while pitching. The number is therefore a fictional statistic, not a recognized baseball speed record.