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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg Paperback - 1995

by Nicholas Dawidoff

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The only Major League ballplayer whose baseball card is on display at the headquarters of the CIA, Moe Berg has the singular distinction of having both a 15-year career as a catcher for such teams as the New York Robins and the Chicago White Sox and that of a spy for the OSS during World War II. Here, Dawidoff provides "a careful and sympathetic biography" (Chicago Sun-Times) of this enigmatic man. Photos.

Reader reviews for The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

From the publisher

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"A delightful book that recounts one of the strangest episodes in the history of espionage. . . . . Relentlessly entertaining."--The New York Times Book Review

Moe Berg is the only major-league baseball player whose baseball card is on display at the headquarters of the CIA. For Berg was much more than a third-string catcher who played on several major league teams between 1923 and 1939. Educated at Princeton and the Sorbonne, he as reputed to speak a dozen languages (although it was also said he couldn't hit in any of them) and went on to become an OSS spy in Europe during World War II.

As Nicholas Dawidoff follows Berg from his claustrophobic childhood through his glamorous (though equivocal) careers in sports and espionage and into the long, nomadic years during which he lived on the hospitality of such scattered acquaintances as Joe DiMaggio and Albert Einstein, he succeeds not only in establishing where Berg went, but who he was beneath his layers of carefully constructed cover. As engrossing as a novel by John le Carr, The Catcher Was a Spy is a triumphant work of historical and psychological detection.

First line

John Kieran created the public Moe Berg.

Details

  • Title The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
  • Author Nicholas Dawidoff
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 480
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Vintage, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 1995-05-30
  • ISBN 9780679762898 / 0679762892
  • Weight 1 lbs (0.45 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1 in (20.07 x 12.95 x 2.79 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
  • Category Biography / Autobiography
  • Dewey Decimal Code B

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 12/03/1995, Page 86
  • Publishers Weekly, 05/15/1995, Page 0

About the author

Nicholas Dawidoff is the author of five books. One of them, The Fly Swatter, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and another, In the Country of Country, was named one of the greatest all-time works of travel literature by Conde Nast Traveller. His first book, The Catcher Was A Spy: The Mysterious Life Of Moe Berg was a national bestseller and appeared on many 1994 best book lists. In 2009, Pantheon published The Crowd Sounds Happy: A Story of Love, Madness and Baseball. He is also the editor of the Library of America's Baseball: A Literary Anthology. A graduate of Harvard University, he has been a Guggenheim, Civitella Ranieri and Berlin Prize Fellow, and is a contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and the American Scholar.

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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Nicholas Dawidoff

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1995. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Nicholas Dawidoff

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679762898 / 0679762892
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1995. Paperback. Good. Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

  • Used
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679762898 / 0679762892
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

  • Used
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679762898 / 0679762892
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A$10.87
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Description:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Item price
A$10.87
Free Delivery to USA
The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy : The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780679762898 / 0679762892
Quantity available
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Seller
Item price
A$10.87
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Item price
A$10.87
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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
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The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg

by Dawidoff, Nicholas

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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