November 29, 1934. Baseball superstars from America had come to Tokyo, Japan on a goodwill mission to introduce the
game of baseball to the Japanese. In attendance were Lou Gehrig, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and the all-time
baseball icon, Babe Ruth. Also there was backup catcher Moe Berg, but he was in Japan for a much different mission.
During an exhibition game that had the attention of most of the country, Berg made his way to St. Luke's International
Hospital, and in fluent Japanese told the receptionist he was there to visit the daughter of an American Ambassador
who had just had a baby. Security guards allowed him to pass.
Berg headed for a stairwell, which led him to the top of the hosptial, took out a movie camera which had been strapped
to his hip, and slowly scanned the Tokyo skyline. The Americans won the ballgame 23-5, but Berg's films helped the United
States achieve victory in World War II. Seven years later, the film that Berg had shot was used as an aerial map in the
massive B-25 firebombing of Tokyo in 1942 led by General Jimmy Doolittle. This was a typical day in Moe Berg's double
life as a world's first and only ballplayer/spy.
In a day when many ballplayers couldn't read or write, Berg was regarded as something of a freak. Majoring in language,
he graduated with highest honors from Princeton in 1923, and led the baseball team to 19 straight victories. Berg could
curse out the umpires in French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian, Russian, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Latin, and even Sanskrit.
Upon his graduation he was offered a teaching position at Princeton.
Berg's desire was to study in Paris, but he didn't have the funds for such a trip, but when the Brooklyn Dodgers,
impressed by Berg's ballplaying acumen, offered him $5,000 to play half a season, he jumped at it. During the off-season,
Berg studied philology in Paris, and decided to see just how far he could go as a professional ballplayer. His father,
an intellectual who had fled the czar in Russia, never forgave him for his decision. During Moe's 15 years in the majors,
his father didn't attend a single game.
Moe was attracted to baseball because it challenged him in a way no academic pursuit ever did. Teammate Ted Lyons said
about him, "He can speak ten langauges, but can't hit in any of them." In fact, the old cliché "good field, no hit" was
coined to describe Berg in a telegram from St. Louis Cardinals coach Miguel Gonzales. Berg hit only six home runs in
his career, the sixth in his final game. His IQ was probably close to his career batting average - .243.
On to graduate school at Columbia University School of Law during the offseasons, Berg passed the New York bar exam in 1929,
and soon became a partner at one of New York cities more prestigious firms. He became the resident expert in foreign
contracts and international matters. Playing baseball accounted for about one-fifth of his income.
Originally a shortstop, Berg became a catcher only when three catchers were hurt in four days for the White Sox, and Berg
volunteered. He spent the next 12 seasons behind the plate for four different teams. He retired in 1939 and two days
later the Nazi's invaded Poland, igniting World War II.
Shortly after the Americans had entered the war, President Franklin Roosevelt gave approval for General William Donovan
to form the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a global spy network whose goal was to combat Nazi propaganda and engage
in counterintelligence. Berg was recruited and joined the OSS in August, 1943.
Berg fit the stereotype of a classic spy. His mastery of many languages enabled him to disguise himself and infiltrate
nations around the globe. He was a handsome, sophisticated, and a connoisseur of fine wine. And as a "dumb jock," he was
the last person suspected of espionage.
Moe had but one liability. He was constantly in danger of being exposed. While not a star ballplayer, many publications
had taken note of this strange ballplayer/linguist/lawyer and his picture was published many times. He did learn how to
fire a gun, and had to carry one with him at all times. He also carried a vial of potassium cyanide – in case he was
captured and found it necessary to kill himself instantly.
Moe Berg's greatest contribution to the war effort was finding several German secrets in the construction of the atomic
bomb. Nobel Prize winner Werner Heisenberg, Germany's foremost atomic scientist was the key to this information. Berg
went to Switzerland where Heisenberg gave a lecture in December, 1944. Berg passed himself as a Swiss graduate student
to the SS agents and sat in the front row.
With a Beretta in his shoulder holster, Berg's primary objective would be a suicide mission. If Heisenberg indicated
anything that he was creating an atomic weapon, he was to be assassinated on the spot. Heinsenberg said nothing about
the bomb, but after the lecture, basic mingling allowed him to find out where many of the German research labs were,
and overheard Heinsenberg say that he believed that Germany already lost the war – an indication that the Nazi's had
difficulty building the bomb.
Heisenberg wasn't completely loyal to the Nazi flag. Like many of Germany's scientists, he did not believe in the Nazi
cause and purposely did not pass along everything he knew about atomic fission. He fled to Switzerland, and thanks to
information provided by Berg, he was picked up in the Bavarian Alps five days before the German surrender.
After the war ended, the OSS was disbanded, and returned to his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. However dramatic, his
time spent in the government only netted him $5,000 a year, and there was no government or baseball pension. A prosperous
stationary business he had started before the war was mismanaged while he was in the OSS, and the IRS claimed he owed
$60,000 in back taxes. They eventually settled out of court.
He was chosen to receive the Medal of Merit, the highest honor given to civilians in wartime, but he turned it down to
live the rest of his life quietly and in obscurity.
Near the end of his life, Berg was persuaded to write an autobiography when a major publishing company offered
him $35,000 for his story. A young editor who was assigned the book met with Berg at the Algonquin Hotel in New York.
The meeting was a short one as a disgusted Berg left when the editor mistook Berg as Moe of the Three Stooges.
Moe Berg died on May 30, 1972 after a fall in his apartment. He was seventy years old.
(Some information credited to Baseball Babylon by Dan Gutman)
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