Cards I Would Like to Own: Morris Berg, Catcher, Intellectual, Spy.
August 5th, 2009 by slangon
I recently finished up the very excellent book The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg by Nicholas Dawidoff. For those unaware, Moe Berg was a mostly second or third string catcher that played in the Majors from 1923-1939. He played for quite a few teams, including the Brooklyn Robins, the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Washington Senators and the Boston Red Sox. In his 16 year career, he hit a whopping .243, with 150 runs, 206 RBI’s and a fence-busting 6 dingers. Oddly enough, according to his Baseball Almanac page, he only grounded into 1 double play. Maybe Fernando Tatis could learn a little something from Morris. Or maybe they only started counting GIDP as a stat in 1939.
Regardless. His incredible skills at keeping out the dreaded double play not withstanding, what was so special about Mr. Berg, you ask?
Before he signed on with the Robins in 1923, Moe graduated from Princeton magna cum laude with a BA in modern languages. During his first few seasons in the big leagues, he was also simultaneously attending Columbia Law school, which he graduated from in 1930. In 1939, he wowed audiences with his appearance on the radio quiz show, Information, Please! After his appearance, baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis told him, “Berg, in just thirty minutes you did more for baseball than I’ve done the entire time I’ve been commissioner”. More and more, Bergs reputation as the brainiest guy in baseball grew, as did his reputation for privacy and mysteriousness.
When he finally finished up his baseball career in 1939, Berg moved into his next chosen profession, spying. Moe Berg worked for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, trying to fight off the Nazi’s attempts to build an atomic bomb. After the war ended, Moe had a cup of coffee with the CIA, before fading away into obscurity.
I find Moe Berg absolutely fascinating, and have decided to add him to my list of cards I would like to collect. I shot over to Beckett to do a search for Moe Berg cards and found this list:
1929 Kashin Publications (Made in USA) R316 #4 Moe Berg
1929 Kashin Publications R316 #4 Moe Berg
1930 Chicago Evening American Pins #11 Moe Berg
1930 White Sox Team Issue #3 Moe Berg
1933 Goudey #158 Moe Berg RC
1933 World Wide Gum V353 #84 Moe Berg
1934-36 Batter-Up #149 Moe Berg
1936 National Chicle Fine Pen Premiums R313 #6 Moe Berg
1937 BF104 Blanket #2 Moe Berg
1939 Play Ball #103 Moe Berg
1940 Play Ball #30 Moe Berg
1974 Capital Publishing #76 Moe Berg
1983 Galasso 1933 Goudey Reprint #158 Moe Berg
1985 Big League Collectibles 30s #21 Moe Berg
1988 Conlon Series 5 #3 Moe Berg
1990 Dodgers Target #48 Moe Berg
1991 Conlon TSN #184 Moe Berg
1993 Diamond Stars Extension Set #121 Moe Berg
1995 Conlon TSN #1350 Moe Berg
1995 Conlon TSN #1400 Jack Kieran/ Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers #36 Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers Gold #36 Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers Silver #36 Moe Berg
2005 Helmar #6 Moe Berg
2006 Jewish Major Leaguers Update #46 Moe Berg/ Heinie Scheer
1973-06 Book Promotional Cards #27 The Big Book of Jewish Baseball
Hmm. Only 26 cards. Thats actually pretty do-able, considering almost half of them are super old vintage, and therefore probably pretty expensive. Wait a minute, whats this? I see some parallels in there. I don’t need 2 versions of the same card. And a pin?!?! I don’t want no pin. Reprints? Blankets? What the?!?! Let me fix this.
1929 Kashin Publications (Made in USA) R316 #4 Moe Berg
1929 Kashin Publications R316 #4 Moe Berg
1930 Chicago Evening American Pins #11 Moe Berg
1930 White Sox Team Issue #3 Moe Berg
1933 Goudey #158 Moe Berg RC
1933 World Wide Gum V353 #84 Moe Berg
1934-36 Batter-Up #149 Moe Berg
1936 National Chicle Fine Pen Premiums R313 #6 Moe Berg
1937 BF104 Blanket #2 Moe Berg
1939 Play Ball #103 Moe Berg
1940 Play Ball #30 Moe Berg
1974 Capital Publishing #76 Moe Berg
1983 Galasso 1933 Goudey Reprint #158 Moe Berg
1985 Big League Collectibles 30s #21 Moe Berg
1988 Conlon Series 5 #3 Moe Berg
1990 Dodgers Target #48 Moe Berg
1991 Conlon TSN #184 Moe Berg
1993 Diamond Stars Extension Set #121 Moe Berg
1995 Conlon TSN #1350 Moe Berg
1995 Conlon TSN #1400 Jack Kieran/ Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers #36 Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers Gold #36 Moe Berg
2003 Jewish Major Leaguers Silver #36 Moe Berg
2005 Helmar #6 Moe Berg
2006 Jewish Major Leaguers Update #46 Moe Berg/ Heinie Scheer
1973-06 Book Promotional Cards #27 The Big Book of Jewish Baseball
Thats more like it. Only 20 Moe Berg cards. Welcome to the fold, Moe.
I created the Moe Berg Diamond Stars Extension Set card mentioned above.
Thats pretty awesome. I was actually working on a set of cards that I want to use to get through the mail autographs that’s based off of the original Diamond Stars set. Apparently the 1993 set was the second extension set. There’s a set available on fritschcards.com that was 12 cards that were going to be released in ’37, but the National Chicle Co. went out of business before they could be released. I would love to hear how you went about putting this set together.
I’m an attorney who has just received a pile of baseball memorabilia, mostly minor league cards, from a client who inherited them and needs to sell what he can.
In the collection is the extremely rare self-published book by Moe Berg’s sister Ethel called: “My Brother Morris Berg”. Also included with the book is a post card showing Moe in catching gear from the 1933 Senators. I suspect this card was probably produced and sold some time in the mid-70s when Moe’s story first hit the general public.
The Spy Museum may be interested in the book, but I’m trying to see about selling the postcard. I’ve never seen one of them before. If I had a decent offer for the book I’d certainly consider that, too.
I have a 1974 Capital Publishing card of Moe Berg for sale, if you still need it….. Contact me at brad_green@cox.net