The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

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Samuel Berg, in New Jersey and spend the remainder of his life unemployed, living off the good will of friends and family. When people asked Berg what he did for a living, he would slowly draw his finger to his lips as if to silence both the question and answer, giving the impression that he was still involved in spying, which he was not. On at least two occasions, Berg may have touched or fondled small children in a sexual manner.

The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg - Nicholas Dawidoff - Google Книги

He eventually moved in with his sister Ethel in Belleville, New Jersey , where he remained for the rest of his life. In May , Berg was hospitalized after a fall. His condition worsened as doctors could not identify the cause of his decline which was eventually diagnosed as an aortic aneurism. On May 29, , Berg died. His last words were in the form of a question to his nurse: Ethel Berg buried her brother's ashes in a cemetery outside of Newark.

Sam, Berg's brother, visited the grave yearly until his sister became gravely ill in and revealed to him that she had dug up the urn containing Berg's ashes in and had taken them to Israel for burial. She had entrusted the urn to a rabbi who buried Berg's remains on Mount Scopus , overlooking Jerusalem , but she could not remember exactly where.

Sam tried to learn where the grave was located so that Berg could be brought home and be buried with his family. But the rabbi could not tell him. Sam died in at the age of 92 so the final mystery of Moe Berg's inscrutable life is that nobody knows where he is. For the most part he also eschews the temptations of amateur psychoanalysis; when he does succumb, it is mostly to revealing effect.

Moe Berg doubtless will forever remain a mystery, but Dawidoff has brought the mystery to life. Dawidoff's biography shines the brightest. This is not an easy subject to write about, since Berg grew increasingly evasive as he got older and during the final 25 years of his life he had no employment or ordered routine.

In his final chapter, "The Secret Life of Moe Berg", Dawidoff undertakes a psychobiography of his subject and plumbs what he has earlier hinted at. Berg was always blind to his real feelings, the author suggests, and nearly lost control of himself toward the end. What he could never resolve was his own love of baseball and his immigrant father's stern disapproval of the game.

Nor could he reconcile his father's rejection of religion with society's insistence on viewing Berg as a Jew. These confusions produced a sense of self-distrust. The way to avoid the pain of confrontation was to stay always on the run and let no one pin him down. While the foregoing analysis may sound presumptuous in summary, in Mr.

Dawidoff's sensitive treatment it seems both tasteful and plausible [and] Moe Berg's life finally makes sense. Nicholas Dawidoff's meticulously researched biography reveals that both stories were essentially true, although both were embellished by Berg, who spent the last quarter-century of his life as a freeloader whose currency as a house guest was not only his wide-ranging intelligence, but the assumption of most of his hosts, never contradicted by their guest, that he continued to be a spy.

Dawidoff describes a lonely soul who could bear only infrequent intimacy-he had a few serious relationships with women, and no close male friends As Dawidoff tracks his elusive subject, it is easy to agree with a bookseller who described Berg as "a professional liar, a layabout who lived on his brother. The mystery is that there is no mystery. Not all critics were complimentary of Dawidoff's treatment of Berg, who had previously been held in awe by his many fans. Dawidoff has accumulated a vast body of information in a remarkable job of research, especially considering that Berg, who died of a heart attack at age 70 in , deliberately cloaked the details of his life in mystery.

What Dawidoff has failed to do is distill it into a story calculated to hold a reader's interest. Rather, he presents an almost legalistic mass of evidence to prove that Berg followed up a career as a pseudo intellectual, third- string catcher by becoming a mediocre WW II spy, and then spent the last 25 years of his life as an unemployed vagabond, living off his charm and his wit and his vast store of friends. The only mystery left at the end of the book is whether to feel pity for Berg as a tragic, unfulfilled genius or irritation with him as a boor who gets more attention than he deserved.

The reader is left knowing immeasurably more about Moe Berg, and caring immeasurably less. The film is directed by Ben Lewin and received its world premiere on January 19, , at the Sundance Film Festival. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For the film adaptation, see The Catcher Was a Spy film. The Catcher Was a Spy film. The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg. Retrieved September 7, The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg". Archived from the original on October 23, Retrieved October 11, For, if he was prepared for something, had been told what to look for, was carrying instructions, he was fine, even creative.

Alas, even Moe Berg's end was shrouded in mystery, when his sister Ethel carted off his ashes to a secret location in Israel. This book may represent a depressing tale for some readers at this site but I thank Nicholas Dawidoff for introducing me to Moe Berg. And if the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein had somehow played major league baseball, I am sure that he would have found Moe Berg a kindred spirit! May 31, Philip Cosand rated it really liked it. True of the book and it's subject as well.

He handed the staff member a piece of paper with a phone number on it. The staff member's boss dialed, a man answered, and just like that, all of Berg's tax inquiries were null.

And yes, he was a spy in Europe to find out if Germany had an atomic bomb in production. The author prseumes to have too much insight into Berg's mentality. To his credit, Dawidoff does not focus solely on Berg's baseball and wartime deeds. He also goes into detail the later part in Berg's life. Hernias, free-loading, book-hoarding; they all get their due. In the end, one puts down the book being fascinating by Berg; but never fully understanding the enigmatic man. Which would have been fine with Moe Berg. Jan 26, Alexandria Barilone rated it it was amazing. The Catcher was a spy: Throughout the book you start with the smart young Morris Berg, and learn about his amazing learning ability.

As Moe grows up we learn about his passion for baseball and see him play for Princeton, The Red Soxs, Dodgers, and many other big league teams. As he grows he learns his real calling in baseball is to be a catcher, rather than the shortstop position he had previously mad The Catcher was a spy: As he grows he learns his real calling in baseball is to be a catcher, rather than the shortstop position he had previously made.

He was a very mysterious man and no one every truly knew the real Moe Berg. This book helped me understand a lot more about World War two. The scientist in charge was Dr. Werner Heisenberg, he was a German scientist who refused to leave Germany, but was anti-Nazi. He followed clues trying to figure out where Heisenberg was, which allowed Berg to do what he loved most, travel. Moe was extremely good at his job. He received extremely important Intel that helped the US.

There were also talks of having him kidnapped and brought to the US, although they were considered they never really happened. Berg did meet Hiesenberg once, he listened to a molecular physics lecture that Moe had to use to Judge wither or not Hiesenberg was a threat, in the end he was not. Moe was extremely secretive; the author quotes a huge Moe berg fan whom followed him for years. He kept secrets from everybody. He was completely different person with his family, his friends, his teammates and in the OSS. He always kept what he felt to himself, he was a very self-conscience man, he was Jewish and had to deal with some anti-Semitism at his college Princeton, and when he played baseball.

When growing up his dad tried to hide their beliefs while trying to keep them at the same time. Moe was scared to tell people too much of himself, yet he was more than happy to pose for pictures, and always knew how to speak and react to people. Other people always had no problem opening up to berg and becoming quick friends, although his friendships never lasted long.

Moe Berg was a well-liked, well known, and knowledgeable man. May 10, Malcolm Anderson rated it it was amazing. In this book, there is a "dream" portrayed. Moe Berg loved playing baseball more than anything else in his world. It made him happy just to be around the game, even 4 This book is quite possibly a hundred billion times better than the Awakening, almost as good as the Catcher in the Rye, better than the Great Gatsby, better than the Crucible, and not quite as good as small portion that we read of the Things We Carried, just to put this book in perspective with the others we have read this year.

It made him happy just to be around the game, even if he didn't play. If possible, he would have continued to stay involved in baseball until he died, but because of the other endeavors he took on in his life, that idea was not feasible.

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As a first generation American Jew, his father set high standards for him, and so did society. He was expected to be very intelligent and do great things. But what was expected of him was far below what he accomplished in his life. Moe Berg became the best baseball player ever to graduate from Princeton, one of the best lawyers of his time, and one of the greatest intellectuals of his time.

He had theoretical conversations with Albert Einstein, and played in the Major Leagues for 20 years. That is successful in any society. Fortunately for Moe Berg, he was able to adapt to many different cultures and remember everything he saw, read or heard. He was quite possibly the most succesful man in the widest range of expertise of this past century. The only fault he carried was the slight awkwardness when trying to keep himself busy when speaking to someone he did not like or thought was unintelligent.

Besides this one small fault, moslty everything else Moe Berg participated in, he excelled and mastered. Moe Berg was succeful. He is a man who has a wide breadth of knowledge and he increasing that range everyday. I am someone who likes to talk to people and listen to what they have to say, while disecting what is really going on behind a facade of knowledge such as Berg.

So therefore, yes, I would enjoy talking to Moe Berg. He is a baseball player and I am a baseball player. He is a catcher and I am a catcher. We match up very well. I enjoy watching people and disecting what their true story is without any prior knowledge. Berg is a spy who can charm any person into revealing information. Berg is someone I would really enjoy listening and talking to because of his expansive knowledge of quite a few of the things I love. He could enlighten me onto how it is to hit a Major League fastball and what it's like to get caught in customs in Russia. Moe Berg is someone I would definitely hit it off with.

May 17, Neil Pierson rated it it was ok. After his career ends, a major league baseball player becomes a spy for the U. Moe Berg was the brainy son of a pharmacist. He was admitted to Princeton in and became a star baseball player there. He volunteered for government service in World War II and eventually joined the Off After his career ends, a major league baseball player becomes a spy for the U. He volunteered for government service in World War II and eventually joined the Office of Strategic Services, which was the government spy agency.

While in Europe, he became close friends with a physicist in Switzerland who was knowledgeable about German weapons research. Berg relayed valuable information about German efforts to develop an atomic bomb. After the war, though, Berg was forced out of the spy business. He spent the next 25 years as a house and dinner guest of friends and relatives. He pretended that his espionage work continued. What he actually was doing was The latter part of the book is simply a recitation of anecdotes illustrating Berg's odd behavior along with that of his goofball siblings.

Made me wonder if as children, the Bergs got into Dad's pharmaceuticals. Mar 14, Mel Ostrov rated it really liked it. Dawidoff This book, first published in , is not just about a brilliant, secular Jewish baseball star who also went on to become a U. More so, it is an in-depth biography of a strange but lovable character who proves to be just one of a family with similar traits of eccentricity. Here are some examples: Jan 15, Mark rated it really liked it.

Jun 11, victor harris rated it really liked it Shelves: Moe Berg may qualify as the most intriguing baseball player of all time. A weak-hitting but quality defensive catcher who kicked around with various teams for over a decade, the enigmatic Berg would make his mark on another front when he served as a spy for the OSS during WW II and for the CIA in the post-war. Unlike most ballplayers of the 20ss or perhaps any era , he was a Princeton grad, had a law degree from Columbia, and was multi-lingual. He was also Jewish which made him somewhat of Moe Berg may qualify as the most intriguing baseball player of all time.

He was also Jewish which made him somewhat of a rarity both in the baseball ranks and at exclusive clubby Princeton at the time. A truly cosmopolitan figure, he was part of the famous s baseball tour of Japan on a team which included the likes of Ruth and Gehrig. He was often popping up in forbidden places taking photos which he would later claim were used in American bombing missions. During the war, he roamed North Africa and Europe and was one of the agents responsible for locating German scientists involved in nuclear physics.

Because he was conversant with science and had his language facility, he was regarded as a prized asset by the American intelligence community. Unfortunately, he had difficulty explaining his rather exorbitant expense accounts and in a pattern he would continue in the ensuing decades, he would often vanish and resurface with no accounting for his activities. These were indiscretions which would later irritate his overseers at the CIA who eventually would terminate his connection with the agency.

His mysterious lifestyle would be the focus of the author's narrative, sometimes to the point of tedium. The peripatetic Berg never held a regular full-time job after the war and basically existed on the largesse of sympathetic relatives and friends.

His eccentricities and obsessions always carrying a stack of newspapers and wearing the same style suits and lack of romantic attachments made him even more compelling to a cast of admirers. Many of whom, as indicated, graciously subsidized his appetites and housing needs. It is with those encounters that an otherwise well-written book does flag a little as there are so many such episodes that a few examples would have been sufficient rather than a whole litany of such interactions.

They almost all came to the same end, Berg would - for lack of a better word - mooch, then take offense over some trivial insult - real or imagined, and move on to the next benefactor. This biography was written in the s and overall is an enjoyable detour from the usual sports biography with a minor reduction in the rating for the reason cited.

Feb 19, James rated it really liked it. I'm knee-deep in research reading for an upcoming novel and I have stumbled across a fascinating book about a totally unique individual Moe Berg, the only Major League ballplayer with his baseball card on display at the headquarters of the CIA. Know as "the smartest man in baseball" as well as "the strangest man ever to play baseb I'm knee-deep in research reading for an upcoming novel and I have stumbled across a fascinating book about a totally unique individual Moe Berg, the only Major League ballplayer with his baseball card on display at the headquarters of the CIA.

Know as "the smartest man in baseball" as well as "the strangest man ever to play baseball" Casey Stengel and nicknamed "The Professor", Berg had a law degree and spoke several languages.

Before he was officially employed by any spy agency, he secretly took pictures of Tokyo when he was on a goodwill baseball tour in the s that were later used in planning Doolittle's famous raid. In , the OSS assigned Berg to infiltrate Switzerland and work his way into a small group of academics allowed to sit in on a lecture by the visiting German scientist Werner Heisenberg.

Berg's mission was to use his scientific background to assess if anything Heisenberg said hinted that the Germans were close to atomic bomb. If so, he was to shoot him then and there. He concluded there was little to the German atomic programming, befriending Heisenberg and later attending a dinner with him. What is astounding is that this was an invitation-only lecture and attendees were expected to discuss the scientific aspects - in German - which Berg managed to do quite well.

He parachuted in Yugoslavia and undertook a number of other missions. A bit of an odd duck, he refused to take military rank, preferring the freedom his civilian status gave him within the OSS. After the war, he refused to accept the Medal of Freedom for his actions, never explaining his motivations. Moe Berg was one of those singular people who prove the adage "you can't make this stuff up. I can't honestly remember how I came across Moe Berg's name, but when I first heard about him, I was immediately intrigued.

A Princeton graduate, a polyglot, a professional baseball player, and an American spy, Moe Berg seemed to have all the makings for an exciting biography. Dawidoff's account of Moe Berg's life covers quite a bit of ground, detailing Moe Berg's baseball career, his work as a spy during WWII, and finally his decline in his later years after he was let go from the espionage busi I can't honestly remember how I came across Moe Berg's name, but when I first heard about him, I was immediately intrigued. Dawidoff's account of Moe Berg's life covers quite a bit of ground, detailing Moe Berg's baseball career, his work as a spy during WWII, and finally his decline in his later years after he was let go from the espionage business.

Dawidoff gives the reader a great deal of insight into the secluded yet diverse world that Moe Berg built for himself, and he does a great job of really analyzing Moe Berg's motives for living his life the way he did. However, I must admit that I felt like I was plodding through this book rather than reading it. During the first half of the book outlining Berg's days with the Red Sox I can attribute my difficulties to my indifference to the game. But even in the later chapters where Dawidoff talks about Moe's days with the OSS, the deluge of details and side-stories just really stunted the allure of it all.

I felt the chapter just said the same thing over and over again, without really revealing or explaining more about Moe Berg. I suppose part of my disappointment also stems from my expectations of this book, as I originally thought Moe Berg was a spy at the same time that he was a baseball player which in hindsight now, seems like a somewhat far-fetched assumption.

Although I wouldn't put this book at the top of my reading list, Moe Berg's story is still an interesting one. Aug 10, Hannah Kirchner rated it liked it. Davidoff didn't consider the eccentric side of the Berg family far enough. At the end of the book, Davidoff wraps things up too briefly and neatly, too willing to pat Moe on the back for living an unusual life of his own choosing.

Yeah, the guy lived an "interesting" life, but it was largely an unexamined, deluded, lonely, and unhappy one, spent running from himself. How Davidoff deduces that Ber Davidoff didn't consider the eccentric side of the Berg family far enough. How Davidoff deduces that Berg lived happily is beyond me. His actions and words were largely meant to impress others who knew or were less than himself, so he lacked substance.

He seemed to be seeking solace by dodging life's responsibilities and intimacies. He spent the last half of his life as a reconteur, spinning yarns and mysteries and living off the kindnesses of others. The book was drier than I would have liked, but all in all, Davidoff did a neat job of sewing together the available threads of Berg's life.

Aug 20, Mark rated it really liked it. Oddly enough, the book's first third, which chronicles Berg's major league baseball career, is more intriguing than its second third, which traces Berg's secret missions in Europe on the trail of the Nazi nuclear program: Once Berg is cut loose by the CIA, however, the biography becomes as aimless as its subject's life, and the last third of the book, in which Berg becomes more and more reclusive and enigmatic, is scattershot and unsatisfying.

Ultimately, this biography fails to reveal the psychology of a man who could occupy such different mental and professional landscapes through the course of his life, but it still leaves you wishing you could travel a little farther in Berg's footsteps. Sep 19, Matt rated it really liked it Shelves: If the purpose of a biography is to produce an honest, interesting account of a life, then this succeeds very well. For those hoping for a book primarily about baseball, or espionage, this may be disappointing, because first and foremost it's a book about Moe Berg.

From my perspective the book breaks down into three parts. The first part is his childhood and baseball, the second part is the OSS and WWII, and the third part is about the strange man he became when his strongest ties baseball and If the purpose of a biography is to produce an honest, interesting account of a life, then this succeeds very well. The first part is his childhood and baseball, the second part is the OSS and WWII, and the third part is about the strange man he became when his strongest ties baseball and espionage were cut.

Berg comes across as an intensely private man made up of many fascinating contradictions, he always seems to be the thing that doesn't quite fit wherever he is. In baseball he was an intellectual and an academic, among academics he was a ballplayer, at Princeton and elsewhere he was a Jew, but among Jews he was secular. Dawidoff also makes clear how likable Berg could be. For all that his faults are freely on display, it's easy to see how fascinating the man's company could be. For anyone who's too worried, there is also a lot about baseball and the OSS.

This book portended to be ideal for me. A combination of my love of baseball, spycraft and biography, it neither disappointed nor wowed me. Moe Berg was not a name of which I was aware, since he was never a star. I don't even remember his baseball card which is the only one on display at the CIA. I love a good character and Moe certainly qualifies as a character. Perhaps because so much of his life was inscrutable but could only be pieced together by conjecture, there was an unsatisfying natur This book portended to be ideal for me. Perhaps because so much of his life was inscrutable but could only be pieced together by conjecture, there was an unsatisfying nature to the account, in spite of the obvious monumental effort by Dawidoff to pull as much together as possible about this enigmatic figure.

Sometimes the problem with biographies are they cannot tie up loose ends and leave you with a solid conclusion like a good novel is supposed to do.

It holds true for Moe Berg. But it is a story worth telling and a treasured book on my shelf.

The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

My dilemma now is: Sports, biography, or spycraft? Jun 30, Realini rated it really liked it. The Catcher Was a Spy, based on the book by Nicholas Dawidoff This motion picture is based on real story and this adds to the enjoyment of seeing a film that has not received a positive reception, although it has solid performances all around, from a fabulous cast. Paul Rudd is excellent in the leading role of Moe Berg, although the public has seen him in comedies for most of the time and the tale of this major league baseball player who speaks seven languages fluently and a few more tolerably is The Catcher Was a Spy, based on the book by Nicholas Dawidoff This motion picture is based on real story and this adds to the enjoyment of seeing a film that has not received a positive reception, although it has solid performances all around, from a fabulous cast.

Sundance Film Review: ‘The Catcher Was a Spy’

Paul Rudd is excellent in the leading role of Moe Berg, although the public has seen him in comedies for most of the time and the tale of this major league baseball player who speaks seven languages fluently and a few more tolerably is dramatic. The hero is brave, well-educated is too little to say about him, ready to die for the country — as he says in front of William J.

Donovan, the general portrayed by the magnificent Jeff Daniels, when the country calls the baseball player to serve. The United States High Command is worried that the Germans would be able to build the atomic bomb — in the words of Robert Furman, an Army officer played by the terrific Guy Pearce; each atomic weapon would be able to annihilate a major city and therefore would change the fate of the war.

The man able to work the way towards the most powerful weapon is the Nobel Prize Winner Werner Heisenberg and the OSS tries to assess his advance towards that project, the willingness that the scientist has to complete it and eventually kill him, if there is a danger that the fascists might get their hands on the ultimate destruction machine.

A team is assembled, formed by Morris Moe Berg as the man who would kill the German physicist if need be, Samuel Gousmit portrayed by the wondrous Paul Giamatti, Robert Gousmit and some other people who would back up the operation. Before this project, Moe had impressed William J. Donovan and others with his background, erudition and especially a brilliant initiative he had had while visiting Tokyo with the baseball team, where he had filmed locations in the Japanese capital, from the top of a central building.

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