THE SPY

Author

Matthew Garringer
December 28, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that loves the game as much as Earl Weaver loved arguing with umpires.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a catcher that became an international spy during WWII.

Moe Berg is known as the brainiest guy to ever play the game of baseball.

He was also one of the most shadowy characters the game has ever seen.

Even Berg’s closest family and friends said they felt like they never knew him completely.

Nicholas Dawidoff, who wrote a biography about Moe, described him as “half James Bond, half Babe Ruth.”

Casey Stengel described him as “the strangest man ever to play baseball.”

He was never really known for his performance on the field, but in 1929, Berg was becoming a rising star.

That year he had hit a career-high .287 and did very well defensively as the starting catcher for the White Sox.

Unfortunately, he got injured during Spring Training in 1930.

After his injury, he didn’t bring much value to the club on the field, but they kept him around because what he lacked in athleticism, he made up for in IQ.

Moe graduated from Princeton and Columbia Law School - he knew 12 languages and was constantly reading when he was playing ball.

The man was a true student of the game.

He even wrote an entire essay called “Pitchers and Catchers” where he deconstructs the psychology and physiology behind the guys that play those positions.

And of course, this guy was a total kook at the same time (most geniuses are).

He absolutely loved newspapers and walked around with 8 to 12 of them on his person at all times.

But Moe would FREAK TF OUT when someone would touch one of the papers he hadn’t read yet.

He regarded the papers as “alive” when they were unread, and “dead” once he had read through it.

Like I said, absolute kook.

However, Moe’s skillset made him a perfect spy.

During World War II, he joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

His linguistic prowess, combined with his photographic memory and ability to blend into diverse social circles, made him an ideal candidate for undercover operations.

As an operative, Berg's missions took him across Europe, gathering valuable information on potential nuclear threats.

His biggest mission was the Alsos Mission.

The Objective: Determine if Werner Heisenberg, a leading physicist working for the Nazis, was close to developing an atomic bomb.

He learned enough about the physics of the atomic bomb to fool others into thinking he was an actual physicist, and then he attended a conference in Switzerland where Heisenberg was giving a talk.

Moe had a gun and a suicide pill on him at the time, and he had the green light to shoot Heisenberg if he got any definitive information that indicated that the Nazis were close to having an atomic bomb.

He was actually able to figure out that they weren’t close at all, and had actually diverted a lot of their resources to other things.

Berg earned the medal of freedom for his work with the OSS, but refused to accept it for unknown reasons.

When the OSS turned into the CIA they broke ties with Moe Berg, he wasn’t a good fit for the new, more-structured intelligence agency.

He didn’t like to explain himself or check in with people - he just wanted to go rogue and deliver results.

Towards the end of his life he spiraled a bit - Moe was essentially couch surfing and living with friends.

He knew everyone from Joe DiMaggio to Albert Einstein, but he never owned a house, and never stayed in one place for too long.

He had one serious girlfriend, but it didn’t last.

Ultimately, he was never a spy again, but his legacy lived on.

In 2018, they made a movie about him called “The Catcher Was a Spy” and Paul Rudd played Moe.

This limited edition sketch was inspired by Moonlight Graham.

In case you don’t remember, Graham was the doctor that made an appearance in Field of Dreams.

He played one game in the big leagues, but never got an official AB, and went into the medical field after his playing career.

If you wanna grab one of these, head over to the gallery and snatch one up while they’re still in stock.

BASEBALL TRIVIA 

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Pink wasn't the greatest pitcher of all time - he took more L's than W's - but one thing you can't say about him, is that he wasn't tough.

Hawley had six seasons where he threw over 30 complete games.

In 1895, this animal pitched 444.1 innings.

My arm hurts just thinking about it.

TELL ‘EM WE SENT YOU

Alright folks, this is the part of the newsletter where we shamelessly plug a few cool companies that we love.

  • The Underdog Newsletter: A free weekly newsletter that drops on Sundays. They cover the greatest and most unlikely comeback stories in sports history; always a great read.

  • Just Gloves: Amazing website to buy a glove. They have a huge selection, free shipping, and you’ll always get the best deal. If you find the same glove for cheaper elsewhere, they’ll price match.

  • Steiner Sports: Whether you're a veteran collector or just itching to snag your favorite players' autograph, Steiner has pretty much every piece of memorabilia you can think of: from Babe Ruth baseballs to Miguel Cabrera bats. 100% authenticity guaranteed.

The cool thing about all of these sites is that when you subscribe to or buy any of their stuff, we get a little kickback.

So by supporting them, you’re supporting us.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites: