![]() The response was that they should ?place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.? Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. Huge numbers of viewers were fooled as the TV program included footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. In 1957, a respected BBC news show announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. The only one ranking higher is the Swiss spaghetti harvest. 2 on the Top 100 April Fools? Day Hoaxes of All Time, according to one Web site. ?Sidd Finch! You?re Sidd Finch! Hey Sidd, can I get your autograph? It happens as he walks down Michigan Avenue. It still happens in the Wrigley Field concession lines. ![]() The gig may have been a big joke, but Berton became somewhat of a star. In reality, the role of Finch was played by Joe Berton, a mild-mannered junior high school art teacher. Several readers were so angry at the April Fools? joke that they canceled their subscriptions to Sports Illustrated. Plimpton loved how the seventh definition of ?finch? in his Oxford English Dictionary was ?small lie.? The first letters of the article?s secondary headline read ?Happy April Fools?,? and the jig was up.Īfter the hoax was revealed, the Mets even staged a Sidd Finch Retirement Day. The sports editor of one New York newspaper berated the Mets? public relations man for giving Sports Illustrated the scoop. ![]() When the Sports Illustrated issue hit the newsstands, two major league general managers called the new commissioner to ask how Finch?s opponents could even stand at the plate safely against a fastball like that. Finch was supposedly discovered by a Mets minor league manager who watched in awe as the gawky string bean threw pitches at an unfathomable 168 mph, about 65 mph faster than the previous record. Most of what follows is a synopsis compiled from .Īccording to the article, Sidd Finch was an aspiring monk who learned to pitch in the mountains of Tibet, flinging rocks and meditating. Plimpton?s creation became the most famous fictional ballplayer since Mighty Casey. He asked George Plimpton to write an article on April Fools jokes in sports. Then-managing editor Mark Mulvoy noticed the cover date of the magazine would fall on April 1. Twenty-four years ago on April 1, Sports Illustrated pulled off one of the great April Fools jokes of all time. But why are we so susceptible to being fooled around April Fools? Day? I’ll bet even those with a relatively high IQ have been humbled on occasion. Most of us have been victimized by a bogus offer or a practical joke. Have you ever fallen for something that sounded too good to be true? If so, you?re probably in the majority.ĭoes the name Sidd Finch mean anything to you? I?ll have more on that shortly.
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