Kalan: Legend of Sidd Finch lives on at Brooklyn Cyclones game
From David Kalan at MiLB.com on August 27, 2015:
Every April Fools’ Day, Joe Berton knows, without fail, the phone will ring.
“There was one April 1st a few years ago, we hadn’t heard from anybody until about four in the afternoon,” Berton said Wednesday at the Brooklyn Cyclones’ MCU Park. “I thought it was going to be the first year no one called, and then some Rogers Sports Network guy up in Canada called. I guess the Sidd story was a pretty big deal even up in Canada.”
Baseball fans know Berton, a 62-year-old retired art teacher, as Sidd Finch, the New York Mets pitching prospect created by author George Plimpton. Finch was part spiritual yogi, part French horn virtuoso and part flamethrower. Though he may not have brought Finch’s mythical 168-mile-per-hour fastball with him, Berton was on hand Wednesday as the Cyclones, a Mets affiliate, held their Sidd Finch 30th anniversary celebration.
Plimpton’s story on Finch first appeared in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated and has since etched its place in Mets lore.
Read the full article here: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150827&content_id=145695984&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb
- Related link: Listen to our SABR 45 “Curveballs” panel with Joe Berton, Steve Trout, and Barry Bloom
Originally published: August 28, 2015. Last Updated: August 28, 2015.