Moe Berg –Catcher and Spy

If asked to name the greatest baseball player of all time
From baseball fans many names would emerge
But as to the smartest person that ever played the game
The answer would most probably be Moe Berg

Berg played for a number of teams from 1923 to 1939
And in 1940 and 1941 he was a coach
Although not an outstanding athlete, he utilized his acute intelligence, particularly when catching rookie pitchers
To accurately analyze what steps constituted the best approach

Berg was a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton, where he studied seven languages,
Berg was a good fielder and catcher, but not much of batter
Understating his linguistic ability, one of his managers stated
Berg could strike out in 5 languages, which was what he thought mattered

After the season ended in 1923, he traveled to Paris
And at the Sorbonne enrolled in classes, 32 in all
In 1926, while playing for White Sox, he simultaneously attended Columbia Law School
From which he ultimately graduated, and was admitted to the practice of law

But Berg’s most significant accomplishments were not in baseball
Or in the practice of law
But in his services as a spy with the Office of Secret Services
During the Second World War

In September 1943, Berg was assigned to the OSS Secret Intelligence Branch,
Having become an expert in physics, in 1944 he began his predominant activities with the OSS
Trying to lure Italian physicists to defect to the United States
But simultaneously attempting to determine the state of German atomic bomb progress   

And this resulted in one of the most dramatic incidents in the war
A key to understanding what progress had been made by the Germans
Was to ascertain the level of scientific awareness of Werner Heisenberg
Who would be the leading physicist in any atomic programs

The OSS learned that Heisenberg was scheduled to give a lecture in Zurich, Switzerland
And arranged for Berg’s credentials as a graduate student so he could attend his speech
If Berg determined from the lecture that the Germans might be close to the atomic bomb
He was instructed to shoot Heisenberg immediately while he was in reach

Berg concluded that the Germans were not close to an atomic bomb
And thus didn’t attempt the Heisenberg assassination
However he took copious notes during his lecture
Which provided useful info to track future progress by the German nation 

Berg left the OSS in 1945, but was hired by the CIA in 1952, to follow Russian atomic developments
He was fired in 1954 and subsequently had no regular employment and lived with friends and relatives to his life’s end
And didn’t seem to have any persistent interests
Except the huge number of books he read

It’s not clear what caused the inertia in the last 20 years of Berg’s life
A possible explanation is that nothing could give him the emotional high
Of his work with the OSS
As an atomic spy