Episode 7/55: The legend of Sidd Finch, the greatest baseball player who never got to play in an official major league game. (Apologies in advance.) Photos/videos courtesy: Sports Illustrated and “Unhittable” (ESPN)
I met him once at a bowling alley ; we had a very nice conversation about the dietary restrictions of the different branches of Buddhist monks - then we bowled a few games - he bowled 300 every time - and he was bowling overhand ! 😮
New Coke was actually created as a diversion. The company wanted to go from using real sugar to high fructose corn syrup but knew consumers would recognize a difference so they rolled out new coke, got everyone to forget what the exact flavor of the old formula was and then went back to the old formula using corn syrup and nobody noticed the difference. This could almost be one of your videos.
In my teens, SI was the magazine to have. It was the paper version of ESPN’s morning highlight reel but in story form. How the mighty have fallen. I wouldn’t touch either with a ten foot pole today.
You tube keeps hiding it I was waiting for this and then forgot now it's been two weeks grr on the brightside the next episode might come soon 😁 this is an awesome channel I really enjoyed the Mike Leech stories too
7:40 World population grew 81% between 1980 (4.44 million) and 2023 (8.05 million). Death RATE in 1980: 10.5% per 1000; in 2023: 7.7% per 1000. More people = more chances for death... dumb af.
New Coke switcheroo was to transition public from sucrose cane sugar to fructose corn syrup without knowing. Profits for Coke and diabetes and obesity for consumers skyrocketed.
i remember my dad bringing home the last 3 liter before they switched. he said " well boys this is it, so enjoy it" You can still get cane sugar cokes from mexico!!!
I wonder if Finch was friends with Tuttle? Tuttle was a dude totally made up on an episode of MASH. By the end of the episode everybody claimed they knew Tuttle. If Finch and Tuttle didn't know each other, this would be sad. Because they had a lot in common. LOL!
1985 was my senior year in high school and I wanted to believe so bad I ignored the April 1st deadline hint and how fricking impossible it would be for a human to throw 168 mph. Its interesting that the SI photographer described the prank as throwing water balloons out a water to see them go splat because I came to see Sidd Finch as a prank on the level of the best stuff that the Letterman show writers ever did.
About the deaths by year. The world population in 1985 was 4.8 billion in 2023 it was 7.9 billion so the population is almost double yet the deaths only grew by 12 million so I’d say that’s a good thing
Sidd and I used to make grilled cheese sandwiches for the rats in NYC. The rats would gather coins and dollar bills to exchange it for the sandwich. It was a fast way to make money until the rats started eating BLTs.
George Plimpton, Sports illustrated writer, author of Paper Lion, tried to catch lightning in a bottle again with the story of Syd Finch. Been several years, how is my recollection?
This man is so interesting. This story reminds me of the Canadian golfer Moe Norman, who is considered to be one of the best ball strikers of all time. His story is equally amazing. Thank you for your channel! I just subbed 😁
I was a kid with a SI subscription mom gave me. I wanted to believe he had something that Mark Fidrich had. Turned out, they both loved Denny's Grand Slam breakfasts at the stroke of midnight.
Ha! Just looking at the thumbnail, I was hoping this would be a piece about Mark Fidrych. I idolized that guy and used his mannerisms on the mound. RIP Mark "the bird"
Before I even click on this video, the name Sid Finch immediately pops into my head! That’s the impact reading that SI story had on me. If I’m remembering correctly, the cover had the bespectacled guy sitting on the ground playing a French horn and wearing an unlaced, tan boot. In a Met’s striped jersey shirt??? Not sure about that. SO, 1) Not on the cover, 2) striped pants, not jersey, 3) my memory created a conglomeration image based on the set of “Sidd Finch” pics from the article. Interesting study of memory!
Does this have to stop at 55 folks? If you take suggestions please consider Phil Kearny. One armed Mexican American War veteran, member of the French Lègion d'honneur, Civil War general, and absolute badass.
Why on earth 🌍 would you find it odd that more people died in 2023 than in 1985? There are FAR more people living in 2023, correct? So wouldn’t you be able to infer that it would actually be quite an anomaly if there were fewer deaths? My god, can you imagine the rocketing population numbers if the more people they lived the fewer that died? What a weird ass world 🌎 that would be.
@@sturmjahAnd you have confirmed this how? By agreeing with the "facts" as presented by the news and the government that both have been bought and paid for by people with money and a agenda.
Yup. Specifically America, but most of the world, are losing the post ww2 generation. They made a couple billion kids, birthrates are declining since. In ten years it will likely spike, simply based on the biggest generation will mostly be gone. The average age will sharply decline too. But, what do I know? I'm just a small town bird lawyer
Joe Burton was an art teacher at my middle school. Always a spectacularly nice person. I remember when I heard about this story still being confused if it was real or not. Even though I’d grown up with his kids in our school my whole life. Rest In Peace Mr. Burton
So sad what happened to Sid. I don't think people realize how tough it is to transcend the barrier of life and death, the void and existence itself the way he did.
man, I was so ready to dive into and google what happened to this guy when the video was over. I was so invested into this story & bought into every single word of it... I'm not even sure how to feel right now. Am I real?
Sid was way ahead of us. He didn't have stuck poop like Emma's grandma and all MLB players. So glad I watched Emma For Gut all the way through. Lost 20 pounds and just ran the 100m with bare feet in 5 seconds.
HAHAHAHAHA. After I'd shared to a Mets fan friend, etc I see the reveal. Y'all got me...good one...no GREAT ONE. Went right upside my head like a 121mph fastball...lol
I caught what you did there with the song lyrics, "bring back Springsteen, Madonna, . . . There was U2 and Blondie . . . " - I forget the band but it ws a hit a decade or so ago. Something about 1985.
Zack Greinke cut Sidd finch’s lawn in 1998 ., when he was only 15 . Sidd saw him mowing the grass because Sidd finch retired in 1985 from the NY Mets . And after the lawn job , Zack asked “ what’s next ?” Sidd replied ., “ you are too tall to catch .. “ “ go throw a ball around for awhile , and just maybe ..,”😮
@8:00, more people died globally per year because there were more people in the world. In 2023, the global population was 165% of 1985. Deaths in 1985: 48,685,438 Deaths in 2023 60.95mn Death rate is 125% over 1985 in 2023.
I've always contended that '86 would never have happened for the mets without Syd Finch (I like to spell it with the y because i think maybe bird Fydrich was kind of the guy Syd was modeled on). It increased New Yorker's capacity to believe that they could have the impossible, which as we all know, is what it came down to in the '86 series.
When I was a kid I was subscribed to SI and remember being enthralled by that article. After I found out "the truth", I was mad at myself for not catching it (but I was a kid).
bruh. there are more people alive now than there were in the 1980s, no shit there are more deaths. that was a crazy thing to be surprised by and not make the connection tbh
I remember reading this in a SI magazine? What's a magazine you ask? Well, it's like a tablet except it's made from wood and you don't need batteries or to charge it nightly.
The story is that New Coke was sweeter than regular Coke to conceal all the extra salt, which was put in there to make the drink less refreshing, so you would want to drink more.
I remember reading this issue of S.I. and never really bought into the story but , it took several weeks before I realized it was the April fools issue. Plus George Plimpton wrote the story.
If you are going to attempt journalism in any form, it really helps if you state idioms correctly. "For all intensive purposes" does not make sense, it's word salad. 'For all intent & purposes' does have a meaning. I worked for the Dodgers in 88 & 89 as a minor league trainer. Through out the video, I kept racking my brain trying remember the story of Sid Fynch. Especially frustrating was the name WAS familiar; couldn't put it in context.
@@mrobject9113 You really think they're that manipulative/clever? How many other commenters pointed it out; I didn't look. The reason I mentioned it, is it's a pet peeve of mine when writers misuse idioms.
85 was a fun year for me 13yo,,,I remember stuff was so much slower and laid back,,,I was listening to motley crue ozzy, scorpions, ratt, iron maiden 🎉
8:14 If you REALLY wonder, maybe look at total amout of people alive in 1985 versus whatever year you want to compare death numbers to - the percentage might be closeer than you think. People do not live forever, you know ;)
Is that a Milwaukee hammer ? Does it take the same battery as the rest of their tools ? We put a electric cord in the end of a hammer & told this kid it was an electric hammer. He plugged it up, drove nails, worked half a day dragging an extension cord around. Somebody finally told him it wasn’t working, so he took it to the tool room to get it fixed. They told him they were real busy, to come back in a week. They put a switch on it, gave it back. So it still didn’t work, so the electrician told him he need a special permit to operate it. So they signed him up for school. It is amazing how dumb some people are, then it funny as to how many people are willing to perpetuate a joke on someone. Sky-Hook, Board-Stretcher
1985 world population 4.8 billion, today is 8 billion. So only 12 million more deaths shows that people are living longer and healthier than ever before.
I was a subscriber to Sports Illustrated and read this hyped fiction from George Plimpton. Had me scratching my head as to why they never showed his picture. Good natured hoax.
