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The only Major League ballplayer whose baseball card is on display at the headquarters of the CIA, Moe Berg has the singular distinction of having both a 15-year career as a catcher for such teams as the New York Robins and the Chicago White Sox and that of a spy for the OSS during World War II. Here, Dawidoff provides "a careful and sympathetic biography" (Chicago Sun-Times) of this enigmatic man. Photos.
Moe Berg was a baseball player and a spy, and one of the most colorful men ever to pursue either line of work. Long the source of speculation and fascination, Berg's life has never before been pieced together so seamlessly and to such riveting effect as it is now in this superb biography. 16 pages of photos.
Anonymous
Posted Wed Jan 25 00:00:00 EST 2012
Moe Berg was a fascinating subject -- quirky, mysterious, and always blazing a new trail. I expected some of that excitement to come through in this book, but that isn't the style chosen by the author. The book is an informative, accurate report of Berg's life and accomplishments, but the little bit of inference about motivations or rationale for behaviors reads more like a psychiatric evaluation. This is a good academic-style study of the man... complete with many complex words/phrases used where simpler more direct terms would have added clarity and readability. To me though, the toughest part of the book was the complete lack of emotion. You never get the impression that the author "liked" or "disliked" Moe Berg and even the stories are included for analysis and not warmth or fullness of the character. Moe deserves a more fully alive, "down home" biography treatment, even if some creative license may be required.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2012
I enjoyed this book so much I gave it as Christmas presents to many people this year.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri May 02 00:00:00 EDT 2014
It is a fun read about Ray Berg. Ray was a good defensive catcher in the 30's who went onto working for the OSS during WW11. He knew everybody from Joe DiMaggio & Babe Ruth to General Wild Bill Donovan. He was quite a character that never got close to anyone, but was on the edges of everything important during WW11.
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Posted Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013
Moe Berg was a very interesting person.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.A baseball player who didn't want to play. An intelligence officer working for the government, who became even more important in his own mind. And a man who never quite fit in with close friends (or wanted to), preferring a limited relationship he could control. This is Moe Berg.
A precocious childe gifted by innate intellectual ability , Moe demanded to start school at 3 and 1/2 years old, and went and worked diligently to build a reputation as a scholar. Berg, born into a Jewish family, was more concerned about assimilating with his peer group and being accepted as a model American boy.
On to Princeton, again excelling at his studies and becoming the best player on the university's baseball team. He became a member of the Brooklyn Robins upon graduation, getting $5000 bonus for signing. He spent the off season studying in France, Switzerland and Italy. And in March 1926, he decided to forgo spring training along with the first two months of the season to complete his first year of law school. Today that might raise few eyebrows but was unheard of back then.
He came back to baseball which for almost 20 years paid him well enough and allowed him plentiful time to explore his many other interests, including serving his country as a spy during WWII focusing on the Axis' development of atomic weapons.
If this story hasn't peeked your interest about Moe Berg, I'll be very surprised. Follow him through his life recreated from notebooks and letters that Moe himself kept. This is one of the most unusual life stories you'll ever read. Nicholas Dawidoff, the author probes deeply into the man and the myth. I found myself drawn to each successive chapter as fascinatedly peeled away layer after layer about this most unusual man.
Not perfect by a long shot, hard to befriend and develop any but the most superficial personal connections, Berg nonetheless lives a life that if not for the evidence seemed too fantastic to be true. A one of a kind biography!
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 EST 2004
of the three books i've read about moe berg this has to be the most disappointing. I read 60 pages and had to put the book down. Dawidoff does absolutely no justice to this wonderful story...
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Posted Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2003
Moe Berg was the most interesting character ever to don a baseball uniform - and certainly the most interesting baseball player ever to work as a spy. The story of his life is bizarre and compelling - the education, refinement, scientific and linguistic prowess (Berg was sent to Switzerland to assassinate Heisenberg if he thought he was far enough along on the development of a nuclear bomb - Berg guessed that he wasn't and was right) and his life as a professional 'mooch' after his spying career had come to an end add up to a fascinating story about a fascinating individual. Dawidoff handles the story deftly and the book is a joy to read.
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Posted Fri Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2002
if you like reading about baseball and war, this book is for you!! it is a great read!! i would reccommend it to anybody!!
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Posted Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2008
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Posted Mon Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2008
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Posted Mon Oct 27 00:00:00 EDT 2008
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Overview
The only Major League ballplayer whose baseball card is on display at the headquarters of the CIA, Moe Berg has the singular distinction of having both a 15-year career as a catcher for such teams as the New York Robins and the Chicago White Sox and that of a spy for the OSS during World War II. Here, Dawidoff provides "a careful and sympathetic biography" (Chicago Sun-Times) of this enigmatic man. Photos.
Moe Berg was a baseball player and a spy, and one of the ...