There have been many athletes with unusual lives outside of sports, but none more compelling than that of catcher turned spy Moe Berg.
Born in raised Harlem to a pharmacist and a homemaker, Morris “Moe” Berg was always interested in languages and baseball. Considering the fact that his parents were Jews from Europe and that he lived in a predominantly non-Jewish community, he picked up Yiddish and English rather quickly. Soon, he’d be off to Princeton University to play baseball, though his dad wanted him to follow in his profession, or at least study for a high-paying job like a lawyer. “He could speak 12 languages, but he couldn’t hit in any of ‘em,” is one of the most notable quotes about the Princeton graduate. Moe Berg is remembered in New Jersey as the greatest baseball player in Princeton history. Though he was a shortstop, then, he’d soon be converted to a catcher after the catcher the White Sox had signed turned out to be too fat. He couldn’t maneuver well enough behind the plate to stop all the pitches, so Moe Berg volunteered. There was only one issue, Moe Berg had never even put on the shin guards in his life and the man on the mound, Ted Lyons, was tossing a mean knuckleball which would cause Berg to be in a dangerous position to miss the ball and catch with an unprotected area. One more thing, they were facing the 1920’s New York Yankees Murderer’s Row lineup. Against the Bronx’s Ruth and Gehrig, Moe Berg would be outstanding, thus beginning his career behind the plate. The majority of Berg’s career would be spent with the Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, and Boston Red Sox. On a major league tour of Japan, Moe Berg, who may have played well in 1926 for a couple games, but was never that good again, was taken along and many thought it quite odd. Turns out, he spoke Japanese, just by coincidence, and, just by coincidence, he had some business with some government officials shortly beforehand. After his baseball career and during World War II, the Office of Strategic Services would make him a spy for the United States. What was his mission, you ask? Well, I’ll give you a little important info on it: it’d be a Jewish man from Harlem, New York, heading straight into Nazi Germany. He’s a Jew, in Nazi Germany, during World War II, and his mission is to listen to a physics lecture in German, decipher whether or not the Nazis were close to inventing the atomic bomb, and if so, kill Werner Heisenberg, the man leading their research, all while avoiding being caught because if he was caught, he’d be killed. Odds are kind of stacked against him, huh? Thanks to Moe Berg’s undercover research, the US was able to uncover the fact that Germans were nowhere close to creating the bomb. Berg, fortunately, was able to return safely to the states without having to kill Heisenberg. He didn’t have a glamorous baseball career, but his service to this country is a great achievement. Jesse A. Cook April 20, 2017 “The Catcher Was A Spy”
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With a final score of 8-3, Team Japan knocked Team Israel out of the World Baseball Classic. Now, the Jewish holiday of Passover, or Pesach, as it’s pronounced in Hebrew, is almost upon us; during Pesach, all yeast products, including pasta, rice, and of course, bread, must be dropped and replaced with the hard cracker, matzah. While we’re talking baseball, it’s true that everybody wants to come home with the most “bread,” but Israel, being primarily made of Jewish ballplayers had to take home the flavorless, crunchy, and disgusting sheet of drywall, matzah, instead.
The seder started with relief pitcher Josh Zeid asking the four questions, one per inning, with no response, only to be matched by Japan’s Kodai Senga. Everything was calm until the sixth inning when the Japanese lineup unleashed the plagues on Israel’s Zack Thornton, Alex Katz, and Brad Goldberg. Pharaoh let my people go for three runs in the top of the ninth, but Japan still split the sea and crossed all the way to the Finals in Los Angeles alongside the Netherlands. Israel lost their last two games, yet they were the only games they lost. If they had repeated their first bout with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Israel would be off to Hollywood to compete for the World Title. What went wrong, and led to the death of their first Classic birth? To begin with, while a great deal of the Israeli ballclub has major league experience, none of them are currently in the Big Leagues. Secondly, it’s a miracle that they even beat the Netherlands once! The Dutch lineup boasts several major leaguers including Jurickson Profar, Jonathan Schoop, Kenley Jansen, Didi Gregorius, and Xander Bogaerts. That makes it a tad difficult for a minor league lineup, doesn’t it? Israel actually did remarkably against them: granted, the country formerly known as Holland did crush them 12-2 in their last matchup, it was 4-2 Israel in their only other game back in the first round in Seoul, South Korea. If you switch the two games, Israel still makes it to the round in Tokyo, but they also move on to LA with 2-1 record in each round, in place of 3-0 in Seoul and 1-2 in Tokyo. Israel will be back to play in 2021, but they might have to play in late 2020 for the Qualifiers. There’s a whole system of who does or does not get a bye for the Qualifying Round. Anyhow, while Israel is out throwing away all their food that is not kosher for Passover, the Mensch on the Bench is riding the waves in LA as Japan and the US prepare to fight it out, tonight. Jesse A. Cook March 21, 2017 “As Passover Approaches, Israel Drops Bread” |
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