The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

I was with you.

 

Wow. I guess there were some 12-year-old GMs of big league teams back then. It was ridiculously obvious that the story was a joke. I haven't read the story in a long time, but my recollection is a lot of it was pretty over the top, and Plimpton didn't even really try very hard to play it straight.

 

As a kid, I just remember feeling disappointed that the Mets weren't going to have Finch be their No.2 starter.

 

I think it was a case of: you don't really believe it, but you want to believe it.
Kinda like Aaron Kushner at the O.C. Register. And that was no joke.

 

The reason SI's jape worked is because, at the time, the readership a) trusted SI implicitly and b) still had a sense of humor. Unfortunately, many publications thought they could pull off the same gag year after year, only to find the joke was on them.

 

Fuck Sidd Finch and SI.
Read that SI story and made him my No. 1 pick in the fantasy draft that year.

 

I don't think it could be pulled off in this day and age.

I remember Plimpton made the interview rounds and just sold it. SportsCenter showed a clip of him being interviewed about the story in 1985 and he played it brilliantly.