When Baseball Spy Moe Berg was a Dodger - Vintage pic in Brooklyn Uniform at RMY Auction

If you are a student of the game and a lover of its history then you no doubt know who this fellow is.  Featured above is a vintage 1923 original Charles Conlon photograph of famed catcher Moe Berg.  Best yet, he is seen in a Brooklyn Robins/Dodgers uniform, and according to the auction house may be the only known photograph of him in a Brooklyn uni.  It recently sold this past weekend at an RMY Auction for $383.

As you may know, Berg was not only regarded as the smartest (i.e. brainiest) ballplayer there ever was, but it was also revealed that he worked undercover as a spy for the American Office of Strategic Services (a precursor to the CIA) during and after WWII.  It is known that he traveled extensively throughout Europe to meet directly with foreign scientist in order to recruit them and evaluate forces who opposed Hitler's Germany.

As for his Baseball career, he was a star shortstop on Princeton's ballclub while in college and captained the team during his senior year.  Although he was a below-average hitter, Berg proved to be strong defensively.  So, upon graduation he was coveted by both the Dodgers and Giants - eventually signing for $5,000 to play in Brooklyn in 1923. 

That first professional season proved to be a poor one for Moe.  He slashed a measly .186/.198/.240/.439 and committed 22 errors in 47 games.  He then took a winter vacation to Europe, his first, and stayed in Paris.  It was here that he began infamously reading several newspapers in several different languages every day.  Berg would strangely refer to unread periodicals as "alive" and refused to allow other folks to touch them.  It was only when he finished reading them, referring to them as "dead," that he would allow other to check them out.

Later that Spring he returned to Brooklyn and was subsequently sent to the minors due to a lack improvement.  It is during this time that he started playing as a catcher and solidified his future on a Major League roster due to his excellent defense.  He would go on to play 14 more years in the Majors - most which with the Boston Red Sox.

Check out an excellent biography on him at SABR here.  There is also a fantastic book on his life written by Nicholas Dawidoff called "The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg" that is worth checking out.

Below are his career statistics, via Baseball-Reference:

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Daily Conlon: 181 through 189

Here are today's Daily Conlon cards numbered #181 to #189. The most notable player here and possibly our countries most unsung hero is Moe Berg (located on the niddle row, far left).

Moe wasn't much of a offensive ballplayer, but he sure could catch. Still, it was a better life than a potential career as a lawyer. Per his SABR biography:

"He encountered Dutch Carter, an eminent lawyer who advised him to keep playing professional baseball. Carter had wanted a baseball career himself, but his family had persuaded him to follow the law, and he still regretted it. He told Berg that he would have plenty of time to practice law after his baseball career was over. "

He spent most of his time as a backup catcher in his 15 year Major League career. Batting for a career average of .243, he started out his career in Brooklyn in 1923, but was sent down until he finally stuck with the White Sox in 1926. No doubt, his skills on the diamond is not what makes him notable. Moe Berg was "the strangest man ever to play baseball " according to Casey Stengel, and possibly the smartest man to ever put on a uniform. He was thought to be fluent in 12 languages and would regularly read 10 newspapers a day from all over the world. Moe Berg also work as a spy for the United Stated during and after his career in Baseball. This story is often told when speaking of Berg.

In 1934 Berg's career took the turn that made him the stuff of legend. Now a member of the team of Americans that took baseball to Japan, he presumably walked the streets of Tokyo dressed in a long black kimono. 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 but instead of going to her room went up to the roof and using a motion picture camera shot the skyline and other important parts of Tokyo. He never visited Mrs. Burton.

He would later work for the Office of Strategic Services which would become the CIA.

REA: The Barry Halper Collection Items

The REA auction catalog continues to impress me with its content. It even includes numerous items that once belonged to collector Barry Halper- who was considered to have, at one time, the greatest private personal Baseball collection in the country before his passing. This post only includes items that once belonged in his collection.

Below is probably one of the main prizes in his vast hoard. It is the extremely rare T206 Sherry Magie error card. This sounds far fetched, but apparently he kept this card in a secret compartment.

Barry kept this card, along with examples of the T206 Wagner, the T206 Plank, and the 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card in a secret compartment hidden in a wall, which would magically open when one of his guests uttered the password.

It seems too crazy to be true.

Auction Link: T206 Magie Error:

In 1884 they didn't hand out trophies for winning the batting title. Instead, awards were typically given out by teammates for extraordinary accomplishments. Below is a 1884 presentation watch given to David Orr by members of his team- the New York Metropolitans. David had won the batting title that year in the American Association with an average of .354. By the way, 1884 was the year of the first World Series as the Mets lost to the Providence Grays in three straight games.

Auction Link: 1884 David Orr Presentation Watch:

Barry Halper had an eclectic collection, from rare cards to game-used uniforms. He also collected player endorsed products. Below is a 1954 Stan Musial Rawlings glove box signed by "The Man" himself.

Auction Link: 1954 Stan Musial Rawlings Glove Box:

Below is a Princeton Baseball jacket attributed to Moe Berg. Some of you may know him as the Baseball spy.

Moe Berg was one of the most interesting figures in the history of baseball. Berg was a journeyman Major League catcher who played a total of fifteen seasons between the years 1923 and 1939, but it is not his baseball career that has intrigued present-day historians. Unbeknownst to all at the time, Berg was also working as a spy for the U.S. Government and was later recruited by the OSS, the forerunner to today's CIA. After his playing career, Berg traveled throughout Europe gathering information on Germany's nuclear capabilities. Following World War II he worked briefly for he CIA in an attempt to obtain Soviet atomic information. Always mysterious in his actions, the last two decades of his life were spent as a nomad.

He is known to have travelled to Japan during numerous "Tour of Japan" Baseball outings with camera in hand to film Japanese industrial facilities prior to WWII.

Auction Link: Moe Berg Princeton Baseball Jacket:

All game-used jerseys of the Yankees from 1927 that still survive today came directly from Barry Halper.

Many years ago Halper purchased a Yankees equipment trunk of uniforms containing a Lou Gehrig jersey, as well as jerseys of Dutch Ruether, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, Waite Hoyt, this Wilcy Moore uniform, and a couple of others, directly from the Yankees longtime former equipment manager Pete Sheehy. At the time Halper sold a few of the uniforms privately, including the Wilcy Moore, and kept the Gehrig and several others (which were sold in the famous 1999 Halper auction).

This jersey was worn by Wilcy Moore of the 1927 World Champion Yankees. He went 19-7 that year with a league leading ERA of 2.28.

Auction Link: 1927 Wilcy Moore Game-Used Yankees Jersey: