The Life of Morris "Moe" Berg

1902: March 2, born in New York, NY to Bernard and Rose Tashker Berg.

1906: Bernard purchases a pharmacy in the section of Newark, NJ.

1909: Plays shortstop for Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church baseball team under the alias “Runt Wolfe.”

1918: Graduates from Barringer High School in Newark as an honor student and all-city third baseman.

Attends New York University for two semesters, playing baseball and

basketball.

1919: Transfers to Princeton University. Graduates magna cum laude in modern languages. Considered finest shortstop in Princeton history.

1923: Upon graduating from Princeton, signs $5,000 to play for the Brooklyn Robins, later called the Dodgers. Plays in his first game the very next day.

At end of season, sails to Europe and enrolls for a semester at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he attended numerous classes.

1924: In January, rather than return to the Robins for spring training, Berg tours Italy and Switzerland. Fails to earn place on Robins team and is optioned to minor league Minneapolis Millers. Later that season, he was loaned to the Toledo Mud Hens.

Major league scout Mike Gonzales describes Berg with classic line:

“Good field, no hit.”

1925: Has a good season with minor league Reading Keystones. At end of season, Chicago White Sox purchase his contract.

Enrolls in Columbia University Law School.

1926: Reports late to spring training because of law school, loses starting position at shortstop.

1927: Receives permission to take a semester leave from Columbia to attend White Sox spring training.

Converted to catcher when three regular White Sox catchers are injured.

1928: Wins job as White Sox starting catcher.

1929: Fails evidence course but passes New York Bar Exam.

1930: Passes evidence, receives law degree from Columbia.

Tears up his knee in an exhibition game and misses all but 20 games that

season.

After season, takes position at New York law firm of Satterlee and Canfield.

1931: Released by White Sox, picked up by Cleveland but only plays in 10 games.

1932: Released by Indians, Berg signs with Washington Senators. Plays 75 errorless games.

Travels to Japan with Lefty O’Doul and Ted Lyons to teach higher level of

baseball skills and strategy to Japanese college players. At the end of the

tour, Berg travels to Manchuria, Shanghai, Indochina, Siam [Burma], India,

Egypt and Berlin.

1933: Plays sparingly for Senators.

1934: April, commits first error in 117 games. July, released by Senators. Signed by Indians.

End of season, returns to Japan with group of all-stars including Babe

Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy fox, Charlie Gehringer and Lefty Gomez. Berg

delivers welcoming speech in Japanese. Shoots moving pictures of Tokyo

harbor. After tour, Berg continues to Philippines, Korea and Moscow.

Indians release Berg.

1935: Signed by Boston Red Sox, plays an average of 30 games per season for the next five years.

1939: Makes three appearances on popular radio show Information, Please! His depth of knowledge made him a sensation.

1940: Retires as active player and becomes a Red Sox coach.

1941: United States enters World War II. Berg takes a position with the Office of Inter-American Affairs, traveling through South America to assess military morale and the mood of American allies in the region.

1942: Berg screens footage of Tokyo harbor for military intelligence personnel in Washington, DC.

1943: Resigns from OIAA to join the Office of Strategic Services [OSS] forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency [CIA].

Parachutes into Yugoslavia to meet with Tito and his non-communist rival to

determine who would prosecute most effective fight against Nazis.

Begins meeting with Italian scientists to determine what they knew about

Nazi efforts to develop atomic bomb.

1944: December, attends lecture by German physicist Werner Heisenberg to determine if Nazis were close to developing atomic weapons. If they were, Berg had orders to assassinate Heisenberg and commit suicide. Berg (correctly) concluded that Nazis were not building a bomb.

1945: Helps recruit Italian jet propulsion scientist to come to the US.

Resigns from OSS. Awarded OSS Medal for Merit, but declines it.

1952: Hired by CIA to renew his contacts in the Italian scientific community to gather data on Soviet nuclear weapons program. Investigations yield no useful results.

Moves into Newark home of his brother, Dr. Samuel Berg. Remains there

for 17 years. Compulsively hoards newspapers and books. Has no regular

job and travels frequently, staying in the homes of friends and

acquaintances for the remainder of his life.

1958: Receives 4 votes for Baseball Hall of Fame.

1960: Receives 5 votes for Baseball Hall of Fame.

1969: Samuel Berg can no longer tolerate Moe and asks him to move out. Moe moves to his sister Ethel’s home in nearby Belleville.

1972: May 29, dies at hospital in Newark, apparently of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. His ashes buried in Newark by his brother, Moe’s remains are later exhumed and, by his sister’s account, his ashes are scattered on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem.