MLB History 101: Moe Berg / The Spy Who Loved Baseball

Morris Berg was born on East 121st Street in Manhattan on March 2, 1902. to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Bernard Berg, a druggist, and Rose Tashker.

Moe was their third and last child.  His early residence was only a few blocks away from the Polo Grounds.

Casey Stengel once said of Berg (before he even knew that he was a spy), “He is the strangest man ever to play baseball.” 

He actually was the stereotypical spy: handsome, dark, brilliant, and fluent in several languages. Some have said Berg was the most “scholarly athlete I ever met.” 

His life was not to be defined by the same order as everyone else.  He was not your average working man. 

Berg had a thirst for knowledge and read prolifically.  He allegedly would read 10 newspapers each day.

It was also supposedly said of him, “He can speak fluently in 12 languages and can’t hit in any of them.”

Berg’s first crack at organized baseball was in a church league in Newark, NJ where his father had bought a pharmacy. He played for the Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church. As was the custom for Jewish people, Berg renamed himself Runt Wolfe. 

Bernard Berg worked hard and saved so that all of his children could become educated.  Berg’s brother became a doctor and his sister, a teacher. They decided they would like to see Moe become an attorney and so he did.

After being a strong armed, all-city third basemen for Barrington High School, he graduated at 16 and enrolled at New York University.  After only a year he transferred to Princeton University, where he continued to be a loner, due partly to the other students being Protestant and from more affluent backgrounds.

It is known that he studied classical languages: Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit.

He was a starter in the Princeton Tiger lineup for three years.  In his final season, he was the captain of the team and played shortstop.  Moe graduated in 1923, with honors, 24th out of a class of 211.

He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1923 and batted a thin .186 while playing shortstop. He also enrolled at Columbia University and received a law degree in 1930.

From 1926 until 1930, Berg played with the Chicago White Sox where he averaged only .250 with no home runs. 

In 1939, with the Boston Red Sox, Berg was asked by Ted Williams what made Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth such good hitters.  Berg went on to explain his in-depth analysis and finally told Ted that he was more like Shoeless Joe Jackson than the other two, except better.

In 1934, Berg was on a barnstorming team touring Japan.

He entered St. Luke's Hospital carrying a bouquet of flowers intended for Ambassador Joseph Grew's daughter (Mrs. Cecil Burton), who had recently given birth to a daughter. He introduced himself as a friend of Mrs. Burton. 

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