Moe Berg

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This article is about the American baseball player. For the Canadian singer/songwriter, see Moe Berg (musician).
Moe Berg
Runs batted in
206
Teams
AwardsMedal of Freedom
Espionage activity
Allegiance United States
AgencyOffice of Strategic Services
Service years1943–1946

Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in Major League Baseball who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. He played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four American League teams, though he was never more than an average player and was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball."[1] Casey Stengel once described Berg as "the strangest man ever to play baseball."[2]

Berg was a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, and he spoke several languages and regularly read ten newspapers a day. His reputation as an intellectual was fueled by his successful appearances as a contestant on the radio quiz show Information Please, in which he answered questions about the etymology of words and names from Greek and Latin, historical events in Europe and the Far East, and ongoing international conferences.[3]

As a spy working for the government of the United States, Berg traveled to

German nuclear weapons program. After the war, Berg was occasionally employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, successor to the Office of Strategic Services
.

Early life and education

Berg was the third and youngest child of Bernard Berg, a pharmacist who emigrated from

Jewish, who lived in the Harlem section of New York City, a few blocks from the Polo Grounds stadium. When Berg was three and a half, he begged his mother to let him start school.[4]

In 1906, Bernard Berg bought a pharmacy in

Roseville section of Newark. Roseville offered Bernard Berg everything he wanted in a neighborhood—good schools, middle-class residents, and few Jews.[4]

Berg began playing baseball at the age of seven for the Roseville

Newark Star-Eagle selected a nine-man "dream team" for 1918 from the city's best prep and public high school baseball players, and Berg was named the team's third baseman. Barringer was the first of a series of institutions where Berg's religion made him unusual at the time. Most of the other students were East Side Italian Catholics or Protestants from the Forest Hill neighborhood. His father had wanted an environment with few Jews.[5]

After graduating from Barringer, Berg enrolled in

Sanskrit, studying with the philologist Harold H. Bender. His Jewish heritage and modest finances combined to keep him on the fringes of Princeton social life, where he never quite fit in.[7]

During his freshman year, Berg played first base on an undefeated team. Beginning in his sophomore year, he was the starting shortstop. He was not a great hitter and was a slow baserunner, but he had a strong, accurate throwing arm and sound baseball instincts. In his senior season, he was captain of the team and had a .337 batting average, batting .611 against Princeton's arch-rivals, Harvard and Yale. Berg and Crossan Cooper, Princeton's second baseman, communicated plays in Latin when there was an opposing player on second base.[8]

On June 26, 1923, Yale defeated Princeton 5–1 at

Hall of Famers. The Robins were a mediocre team, on which Berg would have a better chance to play. On June 27, 1923, Berg signed his first big league contract for $5,000 ($89,000 today) with the Robins.[9]

Major league career

Early career (1923–1925)

Berg's first game with the Robins was on June 27, 1923, against the

line drive to start a game-ending double play. He got a hit in two at bats, singling up the middle against Clarence Mitchell, and scoring a run.[10][11] For the season, Berg batted .187 and made 21 errors in 47 games, his only National League experience.[12]

Passport photo of Morris "Moe" Berg, 1923

After the season ended, Berg took his first trip abroad, sailing from New York to

Latin Quarter in an apartment that overlooked the Sorbonne, where he enrolled in 32 different classes.[13] In Paris he developed a habit he kept for the rest of his life: reading several newspapers daily.[14] Until Berg finished reading a paper, he considered it "alive" and refused to let anyone else touch it. When he was finished with it, he would consider the paper "dead" and anybody could read it.[2] In January 1924, instead of returning to New York and getting into shape for the upcoming baseball season, Berg toured Italy and Switzerland.[14]

During

Dodgers evaluating Berg with the curt, but now famous, line, "Good field, no hit." Berg finished the season with a .264 average.[15]

By April 1925, Berg was starting to show promise as a hitter with the Reading Keystones of the International League. Because of his .311 batting average and 124 runs batted in, the Chicago White Sox exercised their option with Reading, paying $6,000 ($104,000 today) for him, and moved Berg up to the big leagues the following year.[16]

Career as a catcher (1926–1934)

The 1926 season began with Berg informing the White Sox that he would skip spring training and the first two months of the season in order to complete his first year at Columbia Law School. He did not join the White Sox until May 28. Bill Hunnefield was signed by the White Sox to take Berg's place at shortstop, and was having a very good year, batting over .300. Berg played in only 41 games, batting .221.[17]

Berg returned to Columbia Law School after the season to continue studying for his law degree. Despite White Sox owner Charles Comiskey offering him more money to come to spring training, Berg declined, and informed the White Sox that he would be reporting late for the 1927 season. Noel Dowling, a professor to whom Berg explained his situation, told Berg to take extra classes in the fall, and said that he would arrange with the dean a leave of absence from law school the following year, 1928.[18]

Because he reported late, Berg spent the first three months of the season on the bench. In August, a series of injuries to catchers Ray Schalk, Harry McCurdy, and Buck Crouse left the White Sox in need of somebody to play the position. Schalk, the White Sox player/manager, selected Berg, who did a fine job filling in. Schalk arranged for former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Frank Bruggy to meet the team at their next game, against the New York Yankees. Bruggy was so fat that pitcher Ted Lyons refused to pitch to him. When Schalk asked Lyons whom he wanted to catch, the pitcher selected Berg.[19]

In Berg's debut as a starting catcher, he had to worry not only about catching Lyons' knuckleball, but also about facing the Yankees' Murderers' Row lineup, which included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Earle Combs. Lyons beat the Yankees 6–3, holding Ruth hitless. Berg made the defensive play of the game when he caught a poor throw from the outfield, spun and tagged out Joe Dugan at the plate. He caught eight more times during the final month and a half of the season.[20]

To prepare for the 1928 season, Berg went to work at a

lumber camp in New York's Adirondack Mountains three weeks before reporting to the White Sox spring training facility in Shreveport, Louisiana. The hard labor did wonders for him, and he reported to spring training on March 2, 1928, in excellent shape. By the end of the season, Berg had established himself as the starting catcher.[21] In 1928, he led all AL catchers in caught-stealing percentage (60.9), was third in the AL in double plays by a catcher, with 8, and fifth in the American League in assists by a catcher, with 52.[22] At the plate, he batted .246 with a career-high 16 doubles.[22]

At law school, Berg failed Evidence and did not graduate with the class of 1929, but he passed the New York State bar exam. He repeated Evidence the following year, and on February 26, 1930, received his LL.B.[23] On April 6, during an exhibition game against the Little Rock Travelers, his spikes caught in the soil as he tried to change direction, and he tore a knee ligament.[24] In 1929, he was second in the American League in both double plays by a catcher (12) and assists by a catcher (86), caught the third-most attempted base stealers in the league (41), and was fourth in the league in caught-stealing percentage (47.7%).[22] He had perhaps his best season at bat, hitting .287 with 47 RBIs.[22]

He was back in the starting lineup on May 23, 1930, but was prevented from daily play because of his knee. He played in 20 games during the whole season and finished with a .115 batting average. During the winter, he took a job with the respected Wall Street law firm Satterlee and Canfield (now Satterlee, Stephens, Burke & Burke).

The

Cleveland Indians picked him up on April 2, 1931, when Chicago put him on waivers, but he played in only 10 games, with 13 at-bats and only 1 hit for the entire season.[25]

"Yeah, I know, and he can't hit in any of them."[26]

— Dave Harris, Senators' outfielder, when told that Berg spoke seven languages

The Indians gave him his unconditional release in January 1932. With catchers hard to come by,

Washington Senators, invited Berg to spring training in Biloxi, Mississippi. He made the team, playing in 75 games while not committing an error, and was second in the AL in double plays by a catcher, with 9, and in caught-stealing percentage, at 54.3%.[22] When starting catcher Roy Spencer went down with an injury, Berg stepped in, throwing out 35 baserunners while batting .236.[27]

First trip to Japan

Retired ballplayer

Siam, India, Egypt, and Berlin, Germany.[28]

Despite his desire to return to Japan, Berg reported to the Senators training camp on February 26, 1933, in Biloxi. He played in 40 games during the season and batted a disappointing .185. The Senators won the pennant, but lost to the Giants in the

Cleveland Indians catcher Glenn Myatt broke his ankle on August 1. Indians manager Walter Johnson, who had managed Berg in 1932, offered Berg the reserve catching job. Berg played sporadically until Frankie Pytlak, Cleveland's starting catcher, injured himself, and Berg became the starting catcher.[29]

Second trip to Japan

Main article: 1934 Japan Tour

Herb Hunter arranged for a group of All-Stars, including

legislature.[30]

On November 29, 1934, while the rest of the team was playing in

Omiya, Berg went to Saint Luke's Hospital in Tsukiji, ostensibly to visit the daughter of American Ambassador Joseph Grew. However, when Berg arrived he immediately went to the roof of the hospital which was one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, and filmed the city and port with his movie camera. In 1942, Berg provided American intelligence with his photos of the city in case they were of use to plan bombing raids. He never did see the ambassador's daughter.[31] While Berg was in Japan, the Indians notified him of his unconditional release. Berg continued to travel to the Philippines, Korea, and Moscow of the Soviet Union.[32]

Late career and coaching (1935–1941)

After his return to America, Berg was picked up by the Boston Red Sox. In his five seasons with the Red Sox, Berg averaged fewer than 30 games a season.[33]

On February 21, 1939, Berg made his first of three appearances on the radio quiz show Information, Please. Berg had a dazzling performance.[34] Of his appearance, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis told him, "Berg, in just thirty minutes you did more for baseball than I've done the entire time I've been commissioner".[35] On his third appearance, Clifton Fadiman, the moderator, started asking Berg what the latter thought were too many personal questions. Berg did not answer any of them and never appeared on the show again.[35] Regular show guest and sportswriter John Kieran later said, "Moe was the most scholarly professional athlete (I) ever knew."[36]

After his playing career ended, Berg worked as a Red Sox coach in 1940 and 1941.

The Atlantic Monthly.[38] A 2018 profile of Berg in The New York Times described the essay as "still one of the most insightful works ever penned about the game."[39]

Post-baseball career

Spying for the U.S. government

With the

Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle plan his famous Doolittle Raid, but the raid was conducted well before the summer, on April 18, 1942.)[41]

From August 1942 to February 1943, Berg was on assignment in the Caribbean and South America. His job was to monitor the health and physical fitness of the American troops stationed there. Berg, along with several other OIAA agents, left in June 1943 because they thought South America posed little threat to the United States. They wanted to be assigned to locations where their talents would be put to better use.[42]

On August 2, 1943, Berg accepted a position with the

Balkans desk. In this role, based in Washington, he remotely monitored the situation in Yugoslavia. He assisted and helped prepare Slavic-Americans recruited by the OSS to go on dangerous parachute drop missions into Yugoslavia.[43] His OSS code name was "Remus".[44]

In late 1943, Berg was assigned to Project Larson, an OSS operation set up by OSS Chief of Special Projects

Alsos project.[45]

During the mission, Berg had a heated run-in in Italy with Alsos chief Boris Pash, a controversial army officer who played a major role in the stripping of the security clearance of Robert Oppenheimer.[46]

From May to mid-December 1944, Berg hopped around Europe, interviewing physicists and trying to convince several to leave Europe and work in the United States. At the beginning of December, news about Heisenberg giving a lecture in

close to a bomb." If Berg concluded that the Germans were close, he had orders to shoot Heisenberg; Berg determined that the Germans were not close.[47] On orders direct from President Franklin Roosevelt, Berg persuaded Antonio Ferri, who had served as the head of the supersonic research program in Italy, to relocate to the United States and take part in supersonic aircraft development here. When Berg returned with Ferri, Roosevelt commented "I see that Moe Berg is still catching very well".[48] During his time in Switzerland, Berg became close friends with physicist Paul Scherrer.[49]
Berg resigned from the OSS after the war, in January 1946.

After World War II

In 1951, Berg begged the

CIA (which replaced the OSS) to send him to the recently founded nation of Israel. "A Jew must do this", he wrote in his notebook. The CIA rejected Berg's request. But in 1952 Berg was hired by the CIA to use his old contacts from World War II to gather information about the Soviet atomic bomb project. For the $10,000 plus expenses that Berg received, the CIA received nothing. The CIA officer who spoke with Berg when he returned from Europe said that he was "flaky".[50]

For the next 20 years, Berg had no real job. He lived off friends and relatives who put up with him because of his charisma. When they asked what he did for a living, he would reply by putting his finger to his lips, giving them the impression that he was still a spy.[51] A lifelong bachelor, he lived with his brother Samuel for 17 years. According to Samuel, Berg became moody and snappish after the war, and did not seem to care for much in life besides his books. Samuel finally grew fed up with the arrangement and asked Moe to leave, even having eviction papers drawn up.[2] Berg next moved in with his sister Ethel in Belleville, New Jersey, where he resided for the rest of his life.[52]

He received a handful of votes in

1960). When he was criticized for "wasting" his intellectual talent on the sport he loved, Berg replied, "I'd rather be a ballplayer than a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court".[53]

Berg received many requests to write his memoirs, but turned them down. He almost began work on them in 1960, but he quit after the co-writer assigned to work with him confused him with

Three Stooges.[2]

Death

Berg died on May 29, 1972, at the age of 70, from injuries sustained in a fall at home. A nurse at the Belleville, New Jersey, hospital where he died recalled his final words as: "How did the Mets do today?"[54] (They won.)[55] By his request, his remains were cremated and spread over Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel.[56]

Legacy

Berg turned down the Medal of Freedom during his lifetime; it was awarded after his death, with his sister accepting on his behalf.
  • After the war, the OSS was disbanded. Berg was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians during wartime, from President Harry S. Truman for his service. He declined to accept it without any public explanation. The citation read:

"Mr. Morris Berg, United States Civilian, rendered exceptionally meritorious service of high value to the war effort from April 1944 to January 1946. In a position of responsibility in the European Theater, he exhibited analytical abilities and a keen planning mind. He inspired both respect and constant high level of endeavor on the part of his subordinates which enabled his section to produce studies and analysis vital to the mounting of American operations."[57]

After his death, his sister, Ethel, requested and accepted the award on his behalf, later donating it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.[58][59][60]

Representation in other media

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Dawidoff, p. 17
  2. ^ a b c d Berger, Ralph. "Moe Berg". The Baseball Biography Project. The Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on August 13, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  3. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 15–16.
  4. ^ a b Dawidoff, pp. 20–22.
  5. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 26–27
  6. ^ Dawidoff, p. 29
  7. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 30–31
  8. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 32–34
  9. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 36–37
  10. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 39–40
  11. ^ "Brooklyn Robins 15, Philadelphia Phillies 5". retrosheet.org. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
  12. ^ "Moe Berg Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  13. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 42–43
  14. ^ a b Dawidoff, p. 46.
  15. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 49–50
  16. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 51–52
  17. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 52–54.
  18. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 54–55.
  19. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 55–56.
  20. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 56–57.
  21. ^ Dawidoff, p. 59.
  22. ^ a b c d e "Moe Berg Stats". Baseball-Reference.com.
  23. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 61–63.
  24. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 64–65.
  25. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 67–68.
  26. ^ Dawidoff, p. 72.
  27. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 74–75
  28. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 77–81.
  29. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 81–86.
  30. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 87–93.
  31. ^ Anderson, Dave, "Mysterious Moe Is De-Classified", New York, NY, The New York Times, January 28, 1975, Page 21
  32. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 94–95.
  33. ^ Dawidoff, p. 98.
  34. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 113–114.
  35. ^ a b Dawidoff, p. 115.
  36. ^ "Moe Berg, a Catcher in the Majors Who Spoke 10 Languages, Dead". The New York Times. June 1, 1972. p. 46. Retrieved March 11, 2007.
  37. ^ Acocella, Nick. "Moe Berg:Catcher and spy". ESPN Classic. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  38. OCLC 849351178
    .
  39. ^ Fretts, Bruce (June 21, 2018). "Who Was Moe Berg? A Spy, a Big-League Catcher and an Enigma". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  40. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 129–30.
  41. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 133–35.
  42. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 137–43.
  43. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 153–55.
  44. ^ Dawidoff, p. 168.
  45. ^ Dawidoff, p. 161.
  46. ISBN 9780316381666
    .
  47. S2CID 145583391, citing Thomas Powers
    's book, Heisenberg's War (1993).
  48. ^ Anderson, page 21
  49. ^ Dawidoff, p. 210.
  50. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 241–45
  51. ^ Dawidoff, p. 248
  52. ^ Dawidoff, p. 303
  53. ^ "The Ballplayers – Moe Berg". baseballbiography.com. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  54. ^ a b "Moe Berg". The Baseball Reliquary Inc. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  55. ^ "Events of Monday, May 29, 1972". retrosheet.org. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
  56. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 329–30.
  57. ^ "#Shortstops: Moe Berg's life in baseball". Baseball Hall of Fame.
  58. ^ Bogage, Jacob (November 13, 2018). "Babe Ruth is finally awarded Medal of Freedom. Family and fans wonder, 'What the heck took so long?'". The Washington Post. Moe Berg was the first, recognized by President Harry Truman for his "exceptionally meritorious service" as a spy in Europe during World War II. Berg declined the award, but his family accepted it posthumously.
  59. ^ Sandomir, Richard (July 30, 2018). "Baseball Hall of Fame to Celebrate a Catcher (and a Spy)". The New York Times.
  60. ^ Dawidoff, pp. 202–15.
  61. ^ "Inductee details: Moe Berg". Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on February 27, 2010. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
  62. ^ Dawidoff, p. 4.
  63. ^ https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sam-kean/the-bastard-brigade/9780316381666
  64. ^ White, James (28 April 2016). "Paul Rudd starring in World War II drama The Catcher Was A Spy". Empire.
  65. ^ Harvey, Dennis (January 20, 2018). "Sundance Film Review: 'The Catcher Was a Spy'". Variety.
  66. ^ "The Spy Behind Home Plate". The Ciesla Foundation. 2019.

References cited

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