The Curious Case of Sidd Finch (not to be confused with the Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

AUTHOR: George Plimpton

PUBLISHED: 1987

GENRE: If it was film, I’d call it a mock documentary.  What do you call a book version of that?

In April of 1985, an article ran in Sports Illustrated touting the skills of New York Mets prospect Sidd Finch.  It was a straight-forward enough concept, and probably wouldn’t have generated much buzz, except for the fact that Finch was an English-born Buddhist monk who didn’t know anything about baseball but happened to throw 168 miles per hour.  (He learned to pitch throwing rocks at Himalayan mountain goats.  As one does.)  Fantastic, to be sure, but the article came complete with scouting reports, enthusiastic endorsements from Met management, and even pictures, with outfield Lenny Dykstra* and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.  People believed Finch was the real deal.

Two weeks later, SI admitted it was all an April Fools Day hoax.  But the story had taken on such life that Plimpton decided to develop it in a book.  Thus, The Curious Case of Sidd Finch was born. 

It’s a quirky little tale, and includes such memorable scenes as Stottlemyre, then-owner Frank Cashin, and others huddled together in a blimp, dropping baseballs to the waiting catcher on the ground, which is the only way they can think of to simulate the speed of Finch’s pitches.*  The story is narrated by reclusive writer Robert Temple, who gets swept up into the world of the contemplative, meditative Finch as he tries to decide between baseball and enlightenment.  Set in the balminess of spring training Florida**, it’s a meandering tale, but fun, and a good reminder of when Major League Baseball – and the rest of us – didn’t take it all so seriously.  It’s also a perfect example of a world before Google and scopes.com and the instantaneous information of the internet, when someone could play a fun joke on the public without instantly being found out and denounced.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Wikipedia.  But Sidd Finch is a good example of the changes brought by the internet age.

LENGTH: 296 pages

MAINSTREAM OR NOT: Not only non-mainstream, but completely unthinkable in our Wikipedia-obsessed world.

SO, SHOULD I READ IT OR NOT?: Yes.  It’s a very strange little story but it’s lots of fun and will bring back good memories of the Amazin’ teams of the mid-80s for the Met faithful, back when they didn’t suck.  Good times. 

*Poor, poor Lenny Dykstra.  I never liked him much – I much preferred Mookie Wilson myself – but the New York Times picture of him behind bars was horribly depressing.  He really should have just stuck to the car washes. 

**For some reason, this book always reminds me of the Tom Wolfe novel, The Right Stuff, probably because the descriptions of south Florida are so similar.  But really, who wouldn’t link the stories of a fake baseball-playing phenomenon and the beginnings of the space program.  Practically the same book!