In Honor Of April Fool's Day, Here Are The 5 Greatest Pranks And Hoaxes In Sports History

Ladies and gentlemen, it's April 1, which means it's time to bust out your whoopee cushions, Groucho Marx glasses, and celebrity death hoax social media posts.

I love a good joke as much as the next very handsome and funny writer, but I'll level with you: I'm not a big April Fool's guy.

In our line of work here at OutKick, April Fool's Day can be a bit of a headache. It's a full 24 hours — if not more like 36-48 hours — of running every piece of breaking news through the check filter even more times than usual.

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Plus, most April Fool's jokes are just flat-out lame.

You'll get something like Snickers saying, "We're getting rid of peanuts and putting littleneck clams in our bars instead."

*Crickets*

But for every thousand sorry excuses for a prank or hoax, there's a real gem, and I've decided that this is as good a time as any to look back at some of the greatest hoaxes, pranks, and jokes (April Fool's or any time of year) from the world of sports.

Kyle Kendrick Gets Traded To Japan

During spring training in 2008, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers orchestrated one of the greatest pranks of all-time when he convinced teammate Kyle Kendrick that he had been traded to Japan's Yomiuri Giants.

If you're thinking, "How could anyone fall for that?" you have to watch the clip to see how many people were in on the joke to make it as convincing as possible.

From then-skipper Charlie Manuel to the front office to teammates and even the media, everyone — barring Kyle Kendrick — was in on the joke.

They even made up the name of the player he was traded for: Kobayashi Iwamura, which was just a combination of competitive eating great Takeru Kobayashi and then-Rays outfielder Akinori Iwamura.

Now that is a prank pulled ot *Chef's kiss* perfection.

The Sabres Select Taro Tsujimoto

Speaking of Japan…

I love a hoax that is used to prove a point, and that's what we get with the story of Taro Tsujimoto.

Back in 1974, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach was getting mighty fed up with how long the NHL Draft had gotten. To prove a point, he decided to use the team's 11th Round pick, 183rd overall (good lord, that is long) to take Taro Tsujimoto of the Tokyo Katanas.

Here's the rub: Taro Tsujimoto is not a real person, and the Tokyo Katanas are not a real team.

I mean, did you catch it? Sabres, Katanas?

Imlach had asked the Sabres' Director of Public Relations, Paul Wieland, to make up Tsujimoto, and he wanted the truth to be kept in-house for as long as possible.

And it worked.

The Sabres acted as though Tsujimoto's arrival was imminent, and even set up a locker stall for him before the ruse was uncovered.

Tsujimoto became something of a folk hero for Sabres fans, and, according to the team's website, he's still listed in the team's media guide as the 183rd pick in the 1974 NHL Draft.

In 2005, Lakers rookie Toby Bobbitt was convinced he had spent weeks texting actress Lucy Liu, not his 7-foot-1 Serbian teammate. (Getty Images)

Toby Bobbit's Chit-Chat With Lucy Liu

The beauty of this one is that it was a masterful prank born out of petty annoyance.

Former Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti told the story of how,  in 2005, Lakers center Vlade Divac pulled a prank on rookie Toby Bobbit.

According to Vitti, Bobbit (who was injured) was trying to get a look at actress Lucy Liu, but couldn't see her because he was sitting behind the 7-foot-1 center. So, he asked to switch seats with Divac, who refused.

Bobbit asked during every stoppage until Divac had enough. He asked a female usher to write a note to Bobbit that included his phone number and was signed, "Lucy Liu."

That led to Bobbit texting "Lucy Liu" for weeks, unaware of the fact that his texts were really being fielded by his hulking Serbian teammate.

It wasn't until he arrived at a restaurant for a date with "Lucy Liu" that the team pulled the lid off the ruse.

However, Bobbit reportedly didn't believe it until Kobe Bryant told him straight-up that he had never spoken to Lucy Liu.

Tom Brady's ‘Retirement’ Tweet

This one's not as much of a good joke or a good prank as it is infamous, but back in 2019, Tom Brady was just a few months removed from leading the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl win over the Los Angeles Rams when he decided it was finally time to hop on Twitter.

The GOAT decided that the best use of his first tweet would be to make every Pats fan's heart skip a beat:

Brady was 41 at the time, and the idea of him retiring after having won his sixth Super Bowl was far from unbelievable.

However, an hour later, he followed it up with this:

Of course, Brady went on to play one last season with the Patriots, and then three more with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won his seventh Super Bowl title.

Members of the 1985 Mets Lenny Dykstra, John Christensen, and Dave Cochrane were in shock over the wonders of Sidd Finch. (Photo by Lane Stewart /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X31256 TK2 )

Sidd Finch

A true, blue April Fool's prank, and almost inarguably the greatest prank/hoax in sports history.

In 1985, the late George Plimpton wrote a piece called "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" that was published in Sports Illustrated.

It told the story of a "somewhat eccentric mystic named Hayden (Sidd) Finch" who was a 28-year-old Mets prospect capable of throwing a 168 MPH fastball.

Plimpton played it as straight as a hard attack, even working in real-life Mets John Christensen, Dave Cochrane, and Lenny Dykstra. That led to people taking it as a genuine report of a pitcher with a literal cannon for an arm.

However, if you looked at the first letter of each word in the subhead, you'd notice that it spelled out "Happy April Fools' Day — a(h) fib."

Like Tsujimoto, the Mets played it straight too, and set up a locker room stall for Finch.

However, the next day, they held a press conference announcing that Finch had decided to retire from baseball.