Based on the intelligence work he did in that period, he concluded the Germans were nowhere close to building that atomic weapon. His mission, assigned to him by the Office of Strategic Services (a precursor of the C.I.A.) was this: shadow the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, arrange to attend his lecture in Zurich, Switzerland, in December of 1944 and if Heisenberg said anything to indicate he was working on an atomic bomb for Hitler, Berg was to shoot him right there in the auditorium.īut when Berg listened to the lecture, he heard nothing of the sort he kept the gun in his pocket. Then, Dawidoff added, “He was probably a better intelligence officer than a baseball player.”ĭawidoff describes his subject as “part Babe Ruth, part James Bond.” Warming to the subject, he exclaimed: “Major League Baseball! Being a spy! Two incredibly interesting, dynamic occupations. “He was a very good baseball player until he was injured.” 243.”īut when I spoke with Dawidoff, he defended Berg’s talents as a catcher. But he was a great storyteller in the bullpen.Īlthough he lasted for nearly two decades in the game, he hit just six home runs in his entire career and his lifetime batting average was, as Dawidoff termed it, “a feeble. It’s not surprising that Ted Williams called Berg “Secret” and “the Mystery Man.” None of the other ballplayers on Berg’s assorted teams knew what to make of him either. Walking along a city sidewalk, he cut a distinctive figure, with a stack of papers cradled under his arm and stuffed into his pockets, protruding like reeds from a marsh.” Dawidoff wrote: “Berg craved newsprint the way some people yearn for coffee or tobacco. He began each morning by walking to a newsstand to buy at least 10 newspapers. While playing for the Boston Red Sox, Berg wandered around the city, stopping in at museums, coffee shops or lectures at Harvard University. But Dawidoff wrote the man’s life had many ironies: “Moe Berg never married, fathered children, took vacations, learned to drive or owned much of anything besides the black, white and gray clothes he wore on his back and the books he stacked in his brother’s house.” And unlike the caricature, it was resonant with ambiguity.”īerg was quite well-educated he studied at Princeton, NYU, the Sorbonne in Paris and Columbia University, where he obtained his law degree. The secret world of Moe Berg was charming and seamy, vivid and unsettling, wonderful and sad. Berg spent his entire life deliberately being secretive, an enigma.ĭawidoff wrote in his book: “Berg’s was a life of abiding strangeness. Rudd and Rodat certainly needed to pick Dawidoff’s brain about what made Berg tick and why he was so odd despite his accomplishments. A cat is still a cat maybe a slightly different breed.”ĭawidoff also spent several hours talking about Berg with Rudd, whom Dawidoff describes as “warm and inquisitive.” Dawidoff said Rudd’s depiction of the man was “boyish and charming.” For me to start talking about it would be wrong.”īut he grinned and said, “I consider myself incredibly fortunate that they made it.” He also said he appreciated how much effort the filmmakers and actors put into it.ĭawidoff met twice with the film’s screenwriter, Robert Rodat, but noted: “He knew what he wanted to do. He declined to tell me what he thinks of the film, saying: “I’m not going to go there. Dawidoff saw the movie last winter when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |