Reese Kaplan -- A Highlight From the 1985 Mets Spring Training

37 years ago the Mets made splashy headlines in Sports Illustrated with a little known prospect making waves in their Spring Training complex.  The flamethrowing pitcher named Sidd Finch allegedly touched 168 mph on the radar gun and was making everyone drop what they were doing to see this wunderkind hurler in all his glory.

The story, of course, was a piece of fiction by illustrious writer George Plimpton and dreamed up by Sports Illustrated managing editor Mark Mulvoy.  Obviously having someone of Plimpton's ability to manipulate words went a long way towards the successful implementation of this April Fool's Day gag, but it was the photographs of Lane Stewart showing "Finch" who in actuality was a friend of his and an art teacher by the name of Joe Berton.  

Oddly enough, the photography was almost an afterthought, not an integral part of the scam.  Normally Stewart was just given a finished piece of writing and told to get some pictures for it without much direction.  Stewart said that it was a lifetime dream come true to get the chance to provide a graphical element to something Plimpton had written, but as he recalled it was merely an assignment handed on down from Mulvoy without much fanfare put into it.  

Surprisingly it was neither Mulvoy nor Plimpton who chose the person to portray Sidd Finch.  The idea for the person representing the ballplayer came to Stewart himself based upon the description of Finch in Plimpton's writing.  Although they were lifelong friends there was never a fictional connection between Stewart's photography and Berton's participation in spending time together.  Stewart gave him the background information he'd need and instructed him to get the props for the photos, including a French horn, a food bowl, construction boots and a Tibetan rug to provide background color for the finished pictures.

One of the best photos coming out of the article showed "Sidd Finch" hurling barefoot at Coke bottles perched on a small hill about 60 feet, 6 inches away from his would-be pitching mound.  The tall, skinny Berton was shown in full pitching motion but you realize his face is pretty much hidden from the finished photograph.  

Now if you remember the 1985 team, that was just a season short of the one in 1986 that won the World Series.  Berton as Finch would participate in meetings with Doc Gooden, Lenny Dykstra, Jesse Orosco, Kevin Mitchell and others.  Berton confessed that the players didn't know if he was a friend of the Wilpon family or a real prospect, but since his presence was bringing Sports Illustrated to St. Petersburg where the Mets conducted Spring Training prior to the 1988 move to Port St. Lucie, they didn't ask too many questions as they hoped to be a part of a big story. 

The best part was that no one initially realized that the April 1st 1985 release of Sports Illustrated coincided with April Fool's Day.  George Plimpton and Joe Berton conducted print and television interviews, all the while maintaining the "truth" of the story.  It went to ridiculous extremes.  One was when a radar gun showed "Finch" hurling at 68 mph, a full 100 mph below what he was alleged to be able to do.  They convinced the guys on the gun that it was defective and they needed to get another one or get that one fixed to preserve the 168 mph myth.  

Photos taken of Berton as Finch typically showed him with a high kick and a bare foot pointed towards the mound.  Sports Illustrated had a lot of fun with pictures of "Finch" all around Al Lang Field with Mets players while he communicated with future teammates, did his workouts and whet the fans' and media's appetite for the Mets next big star.  Hats off to Sports Illustrated for having the courage, creativity and chutzpah to pull it off.