Nearly everythingabout Titanic Thompson was fake. The bottlecap that he would bet you he could toss the length of a city block had a quarter nestled inside, which he'd put there while you weren't looking. The caddie with whom he reckoned he could beat you and your partner was actually a regular on the PGA tour. Even his name was fake: The "Titanic" moniker earned in a bet, the surname a botch by reporters after he was connected to the murder of the man who fixed the 1919 World Series.

Here are the facts. Alvin Thomas was...