Run, don’t walk, to see The Catcher Was a Spy.
The film should be required viewing in every American History class, not to mention a prime example of what a real American patriot looks like. Baseball is almost an afterthought in the movie, inspired by the 1994 Nicholas Dawidoff biography and directed by Ben Lewin.
The movie’s subject, Moe Berg, was a third-string catcher who became a first-rate spy – a tall order for a Jewish intellectual who parachuted behind Nazi lines during World War 2.
He batted only .243 lifetime but lasted 15 seasons because of his strong arm, defensive skills, and uncanny ability to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of opposing batters.
Berg began his baseball career as an infielder, playing shortstop and third base, before moving behind the plate as the only White Sox position player capable of catching the knuckleball of future Hall of Famer Ted Lyons. Because ballplayers didn’t make much money then, he even spent one off-season working for a New York law firm.
He made the All-Star team only once: when the U.S. government attached him to a squad of players led by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on a post-season tour of Japan. As depicted in the movie, Berg walked into a hospital, sneaked past security onto the roof, and photographed Tokyo Bay and surrounding military targets.
Those home movies, made in 1934, were later used by Col. Jimmy Doolittle on his air raids over the Japanese capital.
Berg bluffed his way past mortal enemies by mastering more than a dozen languages.
When the U.S. All-Stars arrived in Japan, he greeted welcoming officials in fluent Japanese.
That surprised Babe Ruth, who asked Berg before the 10-day cruise from Los Angeles whether he spoke Japanese. The catcher told him he did not.
“You lied to me,” Ruth told Berg. “You said you didn’t speak Japanese.”
That’s when Berg blurted, “Yeah, but that was 10 days ago.”
The smartest and strangest man in major-league history, Berg played 15 years, divided among four teams, but his father Bernard never watched him play. He thought his son was wasting the degrees he held from Princeton University and Columbia Law School.
Berg devoured information, reading dozens of foreign newspapers per day – but only if they were in pristine condition. If somebody else touched any of them before he had a chance, he would consider that paper “dead” and run out to buy a replacement. A finished paper was “dead,” berg said, and anyone could read it.
The brainy catcher, who often skipped spring training to complete college courses, was the inspiration for the “Good field, no hit,” tag, first applied by veteran scout Mike Gonzalez. But the best Moe Berg description came from Washington infielder Dave Harris, who said, “He speaks 16 languages but can’t hit in any of them.”
Even the stern Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the long-serving first Commissioner of Baseball, said of Berg’ appearance on Information Please, “In 30 minutes, he did more for baseball than I’ve done the entire time I’ve been commissioner.”
On the radio show, Berg answered questioned about history, language, and politics – issues far removed from the baseball diamond.
The movie shares the title of one of two Berg biographies; the other is called Athlete, Scholar, Spy.
With Paul Rudd in the title role, The Catcher Was a Spy also features Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson.
Hired by the OSS, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, Berg bounced around occupied Europe in an effort to see how close Germany was to creating an atomic bomb. In fact, Berg had orders to kill chief German physicist Werner Heisenberg, whom he tracked down at a science conference in neutral Switzerland. Berg reneged after reaching the conclusion that the anti-Nazi Heisenberg was in no hurry to finish his work.
Because of an affinity for languages, enormous personal charm, and experiences as a man with an insatiable appetite for travel, Berg had no trouble fitting into difficult situations. In 1932, the first time he went to Japan, he toured China, India, Egypt, and Germany before returning home. On his second trip, he added Russia, Korea, and the Philippines to his personal travelogue.
He later visited South America and several Caribbean countries while on assignment for the Office of Strategic Services. The OSS also sent him to Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia to meet with resistance groups, including the one headed by Marshal Tito.
Even after the war, Berg worked as a spy, seeking information on the Soviet Union’s atomic program. But a hoped-for mission to Israel never materialized.
His baseball card is the only one handing at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.
Never married, Berg lived with his brother Samuel and later his sister Ethel. Before he passed on May 29, 1972, his final words were, “How did the Mets do today?”
Per his last request, Berg’s cremated ashes were spread over Mount Scopus in Israel.
Although many parts of his life and exploits remain mysterious to this day, another Moe Berg movie is due from documentarian Aviva Kempner next year.
