Moe was a catcher who played in the major leagues for 14 years. He wasn’t a stellar player and often was a back-up but he was good enough for teams to keep around. Unlike a typical professional athlete Moe Berg had an advanced education having attended Princeton for his undergrad then graduated law school at Columbia University. He could speak several languages and was known to read up to ten newspapers a day. Fellow ball players always kidded around about him being the smartest and strangest player in the majors.
Some of our baseball teams would travel to Asia and Europe to play expedition games. Several Asian countries, including China, now have great baseball players. What no one knew except for a few people in the CIA, was that Moe wasn’t just a baseball player he was a spy for the United States. Because they were often given a variety of tours during their stay in the different countries, Moe would conduct reconnaissance taking pictures everywhere he went. He would go up on rooftops to scout out different buildings and the layout of different cities. He’d ask questions of unknowing cab drivers and tour directors to gain information for him to take back. Because his job was to get as much information as possible during every trip Moe learned 11 different languages.
Moe was great at what he did as no one knew what he was doing until well after he left the majors and his CIA operations were no longer classified. He eventually retired from baseball then eventually retired from the CIA.
Some of our baseball teams would travel to Asia and Europe to play expedition games. Several Asian countries, including China, now have great baseball players. What no one knew except for a few people in the CIA, was that Moe wasn’t just a baseball player he was a spy for the United States. Because they were often given a variety of tours during their stay in the different countries, Moe would conduct reconnaissance taking pictures everywhere he went. He would go up on rooftops to scout out different buildings and the layout of different cities. He’d ask questions of unknowing cab drivers and tour directors to gain information for him to take back. Because his job was to get as much information as possible during every trip Moe learned 11 different languages.
Moe was great at what he did as no one knew what he was doing until well after he left the majors and his CIA operations were no longer classified. He eventually retired from baseball then eventually retired from the CIA.
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