Chicago Tribune article about
the day the mythical pitcher, Sidd Finch, came to Bash.
Does the real 'Finch' throw 168 mph?
We had to do this. For the record.
We had to ask Joe Berton, aka the legendary fake baseball player Sidd Finch -- or rather, the retired Oak Park middle school art teacher who once modeled as Finch in the great Sports Illustrated article/April Fool's prank -- to throw a baseball for us.
Finch, according to writer/inventor George Plimpton, had a 168-mph fastball. So we met Berton at BASH Sports Academy in Avondale. First, though, we called owner Jim Price. "The mythical baseball player Sidd Finch?" Price asked. "Sure!"
Finch would only pitch with one bare foot and one foot in a boot. Berton didn't bring a boot. But he removed his coat then a shoe and a sock. Price stood at one end of the room with a Bushnell Speedster II radar gun. Berton, who is 6-foot-4 and 57 years old with a size 14 shoe, is all arms and legs. He threw with the grace of an octopus. He had tried this once before, he told us. His speed had been clocked at 69 mph. This time? 54.
"I'll tell you," Price said, patting Berton on the back, "your delivery is exactly the same as it was in those pictures years ago. You still got that at least."