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NFT: Whatever happened to Sidd Finch?

rnargi : 4/1/2020 8:03 pm
I haven't heard anything about him in like 35 years...

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SFGFNCGiantsFan : 4/1/2020 8:05 pm : link
My old man, bless his soul, fell for that prank.
I know he had a son, Miles.  
robbieballs2003 : 4/1/2020 8:05 pm : link
He was very well respected in the children's books field.
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Stan in LA : 4/1/2020 8:14 pm : link
Quote:
So many near-misses in sports. So many legendary careers thwarted by injury, bad timing and the other hard truths of life.

Baseball purists and trivia buffs know the story of Hayden “Sidd” Finch, the can’t-miss prospect for the New York Mets.

On this, the 35th anniversary of his come-from-nowhere debut and sudden tragic disappearance, the rest of you should too.

Finch was the phenom of all phenoms, the subject of a major Sports Illustrated story by the erudite and cheeky George Plimpton, best known then for his book “Paper Lion.”

Truly, the April 1985 piece is among the most brilliant sports articles of all time, ranking with John Updike’s extraordinary essay on Ted Williams, almost the equal to anything even the great Jim Murray penned.

Yep, that good.

You can read it here, or just trust my highlight reel.

A mysterious pitching prospect for the Mets, Finch, 28, had a napalm fastball, a Harvard background and a French horn he played like a pro, one of the many little quirks that mystified fans and sportswriters at the time.

This... - ( New Window )
He was a one day wonder.  
johnnyb : 4/1/2020 8:34 pm : link
Almost like he never existed.
After he lost his 168 mph fastball,  
BocaGene : 4/1/2020 11:22 pm : link
he disappeared from baseball for decades. He was working on perfecting the knuckleball. His expertise at the french horn allowed him to do things with a knuckleball that were never done before.

The last game of the Las Vegas 51s, at Cashman Field in Las Vegas in 2018, he appeared in the last inning of that last game.

He threw 9 pitches. Each batter flailed at the unhittable, physics defying knuckleball. He rang up three K's and ran from the mound. His uniform had no number and no name on it.

His teammates did not know who he was or where he went after his amazing appearance. He was not in the locker room before, during or after the game.

He disappeared into Downtown Summerlin. Some claim they saw in uniform at Frankie's Updown, others say he had fettuccine alfredo at Maggiano's.

All I know is, I was there, with another couple of hundred die hard Mets fans for the last of AAA ball in Las Vegas.

I saw him do this and I recognized him from his spring training season in Florida way back then.

I took pics on my Samsung 8+, but when I go home and tried to upload, they were 100% blurred out.

I think the Gods of Baseball did this as this is 2020 and there used to be a ballgame called Baseball.
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