Welcome to the Classic Baseball Radio podcast

The history of America's favorite game

Meet your guide, Sidd Finch, Jr.

The curator of the Classic Baseball Radio podcast is Hesse Siddhartha Finch, Jr. By day they work at Virginia Commonwealth University; by night they burn the midnight oil supporting the Richmond Flying Squirrels... you might have seen them high up in the bleachers, scorebook in hand, highlighters in flight. A keen follower of baseball history, the Classic Baseball Radio podcast is a passion project to help those new to America's favourite game discover and enjoy the rich history of the sport.

Who Was Sidd Finch, Sr?

Hayden Siddhartha "Sidd" Finch is, perhaps, the greatest pitcher you never saw. He did not seek out baseball, the game found him. The New York Mets signed him to the team in early April 1985. The tryouts drew an incredible amount of media coverage, something the spiritual man did not want to face; he announced his retirement soon after the coverage began, without playing a single game in the majors.

Articles

"Finch grew up in an English orphanage and was adopted by an archaeologist who later died in a plane crash in Nepal. After briefly attending Harvard University, he went to Tibet to learn "yogic mastery of mind-body" under "the great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa", which was the source of his pitching prowes. Finch decided not to pursue a baseball career, instead choosing to "play the French horn or golf or something"."
George Plimpton, via Wikipedia.

"The phenomenon the three young batters faced, and about whom only Reynolds, Stottlemyre and a few members of the Mets' front office know, is a 28-year-old, somewhat eccentric mystic named Hayden (Sidd) Finch. He may well change the course of baseball history."
Sports Illustrated profile.

"I never dreamed a baseball could be thrown that fast. The wrist must have a lot to do with it, and all that leverage. You can hardly see the blur of it as it goes by. As for hitting the thing, frankly, I just don’t think it’s humanly possible. You could send a blind man up there, and maybe he’d do better hitting at the sound of the thing.
John Christensen, New York Mets, via Bleacher Report.