The Catcher Was a Spy

by Nicholas Dawidoff
Category: "Sports"
Pages:252
Year of Publication:1994
Date Added:12/09/2014
Date Read:10/28/2015
Notes:Moe Berg was a backup catcher in the Major Leagues for 15 years before WWII. During the war, he traveled to Europe for the OSS and met with scientists in Italy, France and other countries to determine how far along Germany was in its attempt to build an atomic bomb. His findings that the Nazis were far from a working bomb helped the U.S. war effort by allowing them to use resources in other areas. After the war, Berg spent the rest of his life wandering around mooching off friends and pretending to still be a spy.
My Rating: 5

Reviews for The Catcher Was a Spy

Review - Catcher Was a Spy, The

Not the book I expected it to be. There was very little about baseball and not much more about spying. There was a great deal about how "mysterious" Berg was because he refused to get a steady job in spite of his talents and intellect. Among athletes, he posed as an intellectual. Among intellectuals, he posed as an athlete. Among both groups, he tried to look and sound mysterious and important. In short, it was an exhaustive study of a man with great potential and massive insecurity who accomplished very little in life.

Reviewed by Roger on 2015-10-28 14:58:13

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