Apr 22, 2021; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) celebrates with catcher James McCann (33) after hitting a two-run home run against the Chicago Cubs during the fourth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
For an April Fool’s Day prank in 1985, Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton published an article called “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch.”
Finch, a reportedly right-handed pitcher who hailed from England, practiced yoga in Tibet and could fire a fastball at upwards of 170 mph, was going to lead the Mets to the promised land for years to come, all while wearing only one shoe.
Mets fans were euphoric. Rival teams were furious. Finch was going to be the best pitcher to ever grace the game of baseball. Until, well, it was revealed it was a hoax.
Regardless, the legend of Sidd Finch still lives on and baseball fans talk about him almost 40 years later.
The Mets are no strangers to inside jokes and hoaxes. While Finch is the most well-known, a new Finch-esque character was born on Saturday after New York’s 5-4 victory in Philadelphia where the team offense finally awoke from its slumber.
Players like Pete Alonso and Michael Conforto had high praise for one man in particular: one Donnie Stevenson.
“We just made a nice new hire, Donnie. He’s nice. He’s a great hitting/approach coach,” Alonso said after the game. “Donnie has been great helping the team. I think Luis (Rojas) forgot to mention Donnie. Donnie really helped us today.”
It certainly caught reporters off guard, as Alonso was asked to elaborate on the team’s “new hire.”
“(He’s a) new hire. He’s our mental/approach coach. I feel like we had a really cool collective team approach today, and Donnie helped us out for sure,” Alonso said.
Conforto later doubled-down on Alonso’s claims of a new hitting guru/mental approach coach in the locker room.
“Donnie’s a new guy,” Conforto said, holding back a smile. “He made an appearance today at our hitter’s meeting. He’s all about the approach. He’s a hitting approach guy. He’s a guy that just gets the boys fired up and ready to go. So yeah, there is a new guy.”
Even team owner Steve Cohen had rave reviews about the talk of the town, Donnie Stevenson.
“I love Donnie,” Cohen tweeted. “A major resource to the team and pretty cheap too.”
Hopefully, this “Donnie” character can help inject some life into the Mets’ offense long term. The team’s OPS of .669 is scraping the bottom of the barrel, ranking 24th in baseball. Their 16 home runs are the worst in the game as well.
However, the pitching has been impressive. The Mets’ team ERA of 2.96 is No. 2 in the game, and their bullpen has been shut down in particular.
If the magic touch of Donnie can help get their offense going, this team might start to make waves in an overall underperforming National League East.
