George Plimpton
The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

This April Fools' Day, celebrate the return of George Plimpton's most beloved fictional creation.

"Elegant … unique.… a funny, knowing and poignant first novel that, like the split-fingered fastball, moves in ways finally astonishing to behold … A strike." —A. Bartlett Giamatti, New York Times Book Review

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch is back — in a lively, comprehensive new edition that includes the novel, the original Sports Illustrated article and photos, and a new preface by Jonathan Ames.

"A wonderful book." —USA Today

"Wild, surprising, hilarious … A novel that reflects the magic of the game itself … Sidd Finch flows with the charm and tall-tale quality of such baseball gems as The Natural and It Happens Every Spring." —St. Petersburg Times

Beloved by readers of all ages, this is the timeless and uproarious story of Hayden "Sidd" Finch, an eccentric Buddhist monk pitcher and New York Mets phenom who throws at the unhittable speed of 168 mph. Sidd first exploded onto the scene in the April 1, 1985, issue of Sports Illustrated, in an article that left readers around the world holding their breath. At the time, Sidd couldn't decide if he wanted to pursue a pitching career. And other questions remained: Was it even possible to throw a baseball at such speeds? Or was it all some kind of cruel joke. If the story were true, what would it mean for the future of the game?

Here, from the bestselling author of such classics as Paper Lion and Out of My League, is the complete and definitive story of Sidd ("two D's for Siddhartha") Finch. This new edition features the original Sports Illustrated article that started the frenzy and a preface by Jonathan Ames.

"Splendid … entertaining … Plimpton's control is masterly." —New York Times

"Lively … charming … A terrific character." —Chicago Tribune

Twenty years ago this winter, the editor of Sports Illustrated approached George Plimpton and asked him to write an article for an upcoming issue of the magazine. The only catch: the issue's cover date would be April 1. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Plimpton gamely agreed and set to work. In his own words:

"Pretty heady stuff! [The editor] was giving me license to try to hoodwink six million readers of the magazine. I remember leaving the conference bareheaded, without a coat, and walking out of the Time-Life building into a rainstorm. Though a somewhat exalted comparison, the thought crossed my mind that Orson Welles must have felt the same kind of exhilaration when a network agreed to do his famous broadcast adaptation of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds."

A year later, Plimpton delivered a piece that caused a sensation exceeding even his own expectations — it flabbergasted the sports community. Published on April 1, 1985, it was a profile of a mysterious baseball player who had turned up at the New York Mets' spring-training facility in St. Petersburg, Florida. The fourteen-page article, about an eccentric Buddhist monk pitcher named Hayden (Sidd) Finch, who reportedly threw 168 mph, came complete with photos from spring training, scouting reports, and interviews with Mets players and management. The legend of Sidd Finch was born. George's words:

"The reaction to the article was extraordinary. Over a thousand letters were received. Many readers described how badly they had been duped. Others were furious that a magazine so devoted to accuracy should stoop to such a trick. My favorite complaint was from a subscriber who not only canceled his subscription to Sports Illustrated but also to Fortune, Time, Life, Money, People, all the Time-Life publications he had been receiving—just swept the table clear of them. 'How you like them berries?' he had taunted at the end of his letter."

Today, Plimpton's article is widely regarded as the greatest hoax in the history of sports journalism. The story didn't end there, however.

"I continued to be interested in what would happen if somehow an athlete like Sidd Finch got into the major leagues equipped with that incredible arm. So I expanded the story into a full-length book with the same title as the Sports Illustrated article — The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. People continue to think of Finch as a real person. "Hey, how's Sidd?" they call out. 'The Mets could use him.' I grin, and if they stick around to talk about him I say that he's got a telephone number in London that I sometimes call. It never answers. But the other day I called and it was busy."

Here then, from the bestselling author of such classics as Paper Lion, Out of My League and The Bogey Man, is the complete and definitive story of Sidd ("two D's for Siddhartha") Finch—triumphantly back in print for the first time in many years.

EXCERPT FROM THE INTRODUCTION

I think, too, that maybe George made Finch a Buddhist because he himself was perhaps a fledgling Buddhist, which may come as a surprise to the people who saw George presiding over Paris Review parties in his blue blazer, since one doesn't usually associate blue blazers with Buddhism. But I think this might be the case since George certainly was living proof of one of the Buddhist mantras in this wonderful novel. It is a mantra which is meant to help with writer's block and goes like this: Om Ara Ba Tsa Na Dhi. It means: living ripens verbal intelligence. Sidd Finch prescribes this mantra to Robert Temple, the narrator of The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, who, naturally, suffers from writer's block. Well, if there ever was an example that living ripens verbal intelligence, it was George Plimpton. He was so curious, so amused, so alive, so enchanted by the whimsical and the absurd and the fantastic, that all of this came bursting out in his incredible writing with its inimitable mix of the comedic and the graceful.
—From the preface by Jonathan Ames

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