Today is April 1st and as of right now (9:15am)....nobody has tried to play a joke on me yet. I've been had in the past though, and I've given out my share as well. Last year I had my son and nephew convinced for about a half-hour that I had decided to commit the cardinal sin in being a New York baseball fan. I told them I was switching from being a Mets fan to a Yankees fan. Of course that had to be a joke...(the biggest if you ask me).

Speaking of baseball April Fools Day pranks.....the all-time best had to be the April 1st edition of Sports Illustrated in 1985. George Plimpton broke the story of Hayden "Sidd" Finch, a young Buddhist, who could throw a baseball 168 MPH!!!!! Unhittable to even the greatest of all hitters. In fact, it was said at the time that his fastball make Nolan Ryan's fastball look like a little league change-up. Finch was seen on the cover of the issue with one shoe on, long tan pants, a Mets jersey, his hat on backwards, throwing a pitch in the snow!!! The very long, odd article spoke of Finch's unusual background and how the Mets found out about him and how they were trying to keep things very secretive. It detailed his pitching delivery which resembled a catapult. It was so well-written, it had to be true. It created such a buzz around the sportsworld that many Mets fans (like myself), were giddy. Many others said this had to be a hoax, nobody could throw a baseball at that speed. I, like others, just chalked it up to coincidence that the issue came out on April 1st.

The next issue on April 8th ended the speculation. Plimpton wrote that the Mets and Finch held a press conference down in Florida at spring training. Finch told the media he suddenly couldn't find the strike zone anymore and decided to ditch his major league dream and concentrate on playing the French horn in the Himalayas. He simply waved goodbye to the assembled reporters and disappeared.

The joke was on me.