Kamas Kirian's Reviews > The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
by
by
Kamas Kirian's review
bookshelves: baseball, biography, east-coast, europe, great-britian, history, new-jersey, new-york, northeast, spy, wwii
Sep 17, 2018
bookshelves: baseball, biography, east-coast, europe, great-britian, history, new-jersey, new-york, northeast, spy, wwii
An interesting character. I first heard about Moe Berg in another baseball book and had been intrigued by the legend. The legend seems to be exaggerated (when aren't they), when it probably didn't need to be. I got the distinct impression that Berg was A) a wonderfully talented man that B) didn't want to be too closely inspected by those around him. So he C) wore a caricature of himself that exaggerated his accomplishments when D) no embellishment was needed. It was almost like he was afraid he wouldn't measure up. Possibly he thought he didn't measure up, and was embarrassed by it. Keeping his distance, running in/out of people's lives, was a way to keep busy, and keep other people interested in himself.
As a baseball player he likely could have had a decent, though considerably shorter, career in the major leagues based just off his natural skills and work ethic. Becoming an "odd character" he was able to keep playing by getting people to focus on other things than what he was actually capable of on the field day to day.
His spy work was impressive, though not the stuff of James Bond. And I have to wonder if he didn't get caught up in the romanticized media portrayal of spies only to find his own situation falling short of such heroic exploits. By doing things his way and not letting other people measure him compared to those around him he created a bit of mystique, but also created a rift between those he needed to curry favor with in order to continue on.
In his private life he came across as quite confused. At times he acted like a sexual predator. He didn't appear to be voluntarily celibate, but he didn't seem to fully understand the norms and customs of courtship. Apparently neither did his siblings. I wonder just how much of his behavior was of a man dealing with a genetic mental disorder.
In all, a very interesting read though some of the chapters were broken up unusually.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling/grammatical errors.
As a baseball player he likely could have had a decent, though considerably shorter, career in the major leagues based just off his natural skills and work ethic. Becoming an "odd character" he was able to keep playing by getting people to focus on other things than what he was actually capable of on the field day to day.
His spy work was impressive, though not the stuff of James Bond. And I have to wonder if he didn't get caught up in the romanticized media portrayal of spies only to find his own situation falling short of such heroic exploits. By doing things his way and not letting other people measure him compared to those around him he created a bit of mystique, but also created a rift between those he needed to curry favor with in order to continue on.
In his private life he came across as quite confused. At times he acted like a sexual predator. He didn't appear to be voluntarily celibate, but he didn't seem to fully understand the norms and customs of courtship. Apparently neither did his siblings. I wonder just how much of his behavior was of a man dealing with a genetic mental disorder.
In all, a very interesting read though some of the chapters were broken up unusually.
The eBook was formatted well with no obvious spelling/grammatical errors.
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Reading Progress
February 18, 2012
– Shelved
July 13, 2018
–
Started Reading
July 13, 2018
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 13, 2018
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0%
"I first heard about Moe Berg when reading one of the Jay Johnstone books I think. It was a couple of decades ago anyway. And from the point on I've been intrigued. This is actually the first biography I'll have read about him, though."
page
0
July 24, 2018
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0%
"We're up to the part where he did some spying, but didn't really delve into it much."
page
21
August 10, 2018
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0%
"Halfway through the book, or 3/4 through the text with another 100 pages of notes and bibliography. The chapters are set up as the various portions of his life. Some are only a few pages, others are 50 to 100 pages long. All very interesting so far, but somewhat slow going at times."
page
246
September 12, 2018
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0%
"at times he comes off as a sexual predator. I think he was really confused about relationships."
September 16, 2018
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Finished Reading
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
baseball
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
biography
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
east-coast
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
europe
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
great-britian
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
history
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
new-jersey
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
new-york
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
northeast
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
spy
September 17, 2018
– Shelved as:
wwii