Best Sports-related April Fools Jokes

[Special K]

It's now officially April 2nd, so all the goofy threads with lame April Fools Day jokes can come to an end!!

 

Here are a few actually funny April Fools pranks in sports history:

 

Babe Ruth Turns Jockey    (April Fool's Day - 1930)

"WILLACOOCHE, Ga., April 1. — Babe Ruth, the big Bambino of the Yanks, revealed here today that he has lost so much weight by intensive spring training that he has been forced to give up his career as a baseball player and become a jockey.

Ruth, who formerly could cover more ground than any outfielder in the American League—also while sitting down—now tips the beam at a mere 108 pounds. If he fails as a jockey, he may seek the flyweight boxing championship." [Miami News-Record - Apr 1, 1930]

 

Left-Handed Golf Ball    (April Fool's Day - 2005)

 

Sports manufacturer Dunlop announced plans to offer a golf ball designed specifically for left-handed players. Dunlop CEO Chris Ronnie explained:
 

The idea came from a research project we undertook to better understand today’s golfing market. The results showed that many naturally left-handed players have learnt to play golf right-handed. Up until only a decade ago it had been difficult to get hold of left-handed golf equipment."

Left-handed golf clubs are now commonplace, but no company has yet produced a left-handed golf ball. Dunlop’s revolutionary move is set to hit the shelves next month, just in time for The Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters, which tees off on May 12 at the Marriott Forest of Arden and may see the first professional golfer trial the Dunlop Lefty.

Many golfers mark their ball with an ink image or even a printed logo to help them focus on the ball at the position of address. The Dunlop Lefty will assist left-handed golfers with a strategically placed, ergonomically designed Dunlop arrow, which points from the left-hand side of the ball to the right, thus indicating the correct position of ball focus for the player.

 

Mark Cuban Attacks Referee but that was April Fools Prank 

 

 

Sidd Finch

 

In its April 1, 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published an article by George Plimpton that described an incredible rookie baseball player who was training at the Mets camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. The player was named Sidd Finch (Sidd being short for Siddhartha, the Indian mystic in Hermann Hesse's book of the same name). He could reportedly pitch a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. The fastest previous recorded speed for a pitch was 103 mph.


Finch, Plimpton reported, had never played baseball before. He had been raised in an English orphanage before he was adopted by the archaeologist Francis Whyte-Finch who was later killed in an airplane crash in the Dhaulaglri mountain region of Nepal. Finch briefly attended Harvard before he headed to Tibet where he learned the teachings of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa" and mastered "siddhi, namely the yogic mastery of mind-body." Through his Tibetan mind-body mastery, Finch had "learned the art of the pitch."

Finch showed up at the Mets camp in Florida, and so impressed their manager that he was invited to attend training camp. When pitching he looked, in the words of the catcher, "like a pretzel gone loony." Finch frequently wore a hiking boot on his right foot while pitching, his other foot being bare. His speed and power were so great that the catcher would only hear a small sound, "a little pft, pft-boom," before the ball would land in his glove, knocking him two or three feet back. One of the players declared that it was not "humanly possible" to hit Finch's pitches.

Unfortunately for the Mets, Finch had not yet decided whether to commit himself to a career as a baseball player, or to pursue a career as a French Horn player. He told the Mets management that he would let them know his decision on April 1.

 

Sports Illustrated received almost 2000 letters in response to the article, and it became one of their most famous stories ever. On April 8 they declared that Finch had held a press conference in which he said that he had lost the accuracy needed to throw his fastball and would therefore not be pursuing a career with the Mets. On April 15 they admitted that the story was a hoax.

George Plimpton actually left an obscure hint that the story was a hoax within the article itself (the non-obscure hint being that the story was absurd). The sub-heading of the article read: "He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga —and his future in baseball." The first letter of each of these words, taken together, spells "H-a-p-p-y A-p-r-i-l F-o-o-l-s D-a-y."

Edited April 2 by Special K

[Shaw66]

Thanks for this.  For years after the SI story, people made reference to Sidd Finch.  It was an ongoing joke.  

Edited April 2 by Shaw66

[Nephilim17]

Thanks! The left-handed golf ball is brilliant. I don't find the Cuban fight with the ref all that amusing, however. The best pranks have some ingenuity to them. The Plimpton article is pretty fun as well.

[BADOLBILZ]

10 hours ago, Special K said:

It's now officially April 2nd, so all the goofy threads with lame April Fools Day jokes can come to an end!!

 

Here are a few actually funny April Fools pranks in sports history:

 

Babe Ruth Turns Jockey    (April Fool's Day - 1930)

"WILLACOOCHE, Ga., April 1. — Babe Ruth, the big Bambino of the Yanks, revealed here today that he has lost so much weight by intensive spring training that he has been forced to give up his career as a baseball player and become a jockey.

Ruth, who formerly could cover more ground than any outfielder in the American League—also while sitting down—now tips the beam at a mere 108 pounds. If he fails as a jockey, he may seek the flyweight boxing championship." [Miami News-Record - Apr 1, 1930]

 

Left-Handed Golf Ball    (April Fool's Day - 2005)

 

Sports manufacturer Dunlop announced plans to offer a golf ball designed specifically for left-handed players. Dunlop CEO Chris Ronnie explained:
 

The idea came from a research project we undertook to better understand today’s golfing market. The results showed that many naturally left-handed players have learnt to play golf right-handed. Up until only a decade ago it had been difficult to get hold of left-handed golf equipment."

Left-handed golf clubs are now commonplace, but no company has yet produced a left-handed golf ball. Dunlop’s revolutionary move is set to hit the shelves next month, just in time for The Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters, which tees off on May 12 at the Marriott Forest of Arden and may see the first professional golfer trial the Dunlop Lefty.

Many golfers mark their ball with an ink image or even a printed logo to help them focus on the ball at the position of address. The Dunlop Lefty will assist left-handed golfers with a strategically placed, ergonomically designed Dunlop arrow, which points from the left-hand side of the ball to the right, thus indicating the correct position of ball focus for the player.

 

Mark Cuban Attacks Referee but that was April Fools Prank 

 

 

Sidd Finch

 

In its April 1, 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published an article by George Plimpton that described an incredible rookie baseball player who was training at the Mets camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. The player was named Sidd Finch (Sidd being short for Siddhartha, the Indian mystic in Hermann Hesse's book of the same name). He could reportedly pitch a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. The fastest previous recorded speed for a pitch was 103 mph.


Finch, Plimpton reported, had never played baseball before. He had been raised in an English orphanage before he was adopted by the archaeologist Francis Whyte-Finch who was later killed in an airplane crash in the Dhaulaglri mountain region of Nepal. Finch briefly attended Harvard before he headed to Tibet where he learned the teachings of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa" and mastered "siddhi, namely the yogic mastery of mind-body." Through his Tibetan mind-body mastery, Finch had "learned the art of the pitch."

Finch showed up at the Mets camp in Florida, and so impressed their manager that he was invited to attend training camp. When pitching he looked, in the words of the catcher, "like a pretzel gone loony." Finch frequently wore a hiking boot on his right foot while pitching, his other foot being bare. His speed and power were so great that the catcher would only hear a small sound, "a little pft, pft-boom," before the ball would land in his glove, knocking him two or three feet back. One of the players declared that it was not "humanly possible" to hit Finch's pitches.

Unfortunately for the Mets, Finch had not yet decided whether to commit himself to a career as a baseball player, or to pursue a career as a French Horn player. He told the Mets management that he would let them know his decision on April 1.

 

Sports Illustrated received almost 2000 letters in response to the article, and it became one of their most famous stories ever. On April 8 they declared that Finch had held a press conference in which he said that he had lost the accuracy needed to throw his fastball and would therefore not be pursuing a career with the Mets. On April 15 they admitted that the story was a hoax.

George Plimpton actually left an obscure hint that the story was a hoax within the article itself (the non-obscure hint being that the story was absurd). The sub-heading of the article read: "He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga —and his future in baseball." The first letter of each of these words, taken together, spells "H-a-p-p-y A-p-r-i-l F-o-o-l-s D-a-y."

 

 

Yeah the internet killed April Fools Day thing.   Now EVERY day has an inordinate amount of fake stories to sift thru.   It has to be very amusing to be worth it.......the bar is set much too high for those not-clever people to reach.

[BBFL]

My marriage is on the rocks…

 

I was asked at 7:30:

“Isn’t there a guy on your football team called Josh Allen…?”

 

”Yeah, that’s our guy. Why? Have his pants split again?”

 

”Hes been in an accident and has passed away…”

 

Never thought my heart would sink so fast. Drought PTSD. 
 

“April Fools!”

 

😐😑

[TheyCallMeAndy]

One time, back in like 2009, I made a fake ESPN text alert on my flip phone that KC traded for Jay Cuter.

 

My coworker was a die hard KC fan and went around telling EVERYONE that they landed Cutler, he was pumped. 

[Albany,n.y.]

Years ago, there was the Olof Paril hoax that had a story of an offensive line prospect that the Bills were interested in.  I think it originated out of Rochester.  At one point there was word that one of the other NFL teams actually believed it and wanted more information on him before the draft.  Eventually it was revealed that Olof Paril was an anagram for April Fool.  

[damj]

The Sabres are in the Playoffs 

[SoonerBillsFan]

6 hours ago, BBFL said:

My marriage is on the rocks…

 

I was asked at 7:30:

“Isn’t there a guy on your football team called Josh Allen…?”

 

”Yeah, that’s our guy. Why? Have his pants split again?”

 

”Hes been in an accident and has passed away…”

 

Never thought my heart would sink so fast. Drought PTSD. 
 

“April Fools!”

 

😐😑

Ill help you bury her body. 🤣

Edited April 2 by SoonerBillsFan

[BBFL]

11 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Ill help you bury her body. 🤣

No help needed. I visited a pig farm. 👀

[SF Bills Fan]

The Finch joke was great. I remember my parents reading of it and thinking it was real. Some people were legitimately angry over it and sent letters to SI saying they wanted to cancel the subscription. 

[HurlyBurly51]