His is a story I want to remember. I only learned of his existence last night, but his giftedness and patriotic spirit to willing do whatever of needed of him by his country makes him a person worth remembering.
His parents immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine.
His father was a pharmacist, and his mother was a homemaker. Both were Jewish and they initially resided in the Harlem section of New York City.
When Morris Berg, who answered to the name Moe was three and a half, he begged his mother to let him start school. His story was surrounded by middle class families.
In 1906, his father bought a pharmacy in West Newark and his family moved there. Four years later, they moved to the Roseville section of Newark because the neighborhood was exactly what his father sought for his family. The schools were good and included a few Jewish people.
Moe Berg began playing baseball at the age of seven for the Roseville Methodist Episcopal Church. He graduated from high school at the age of sixteen. During his senior year, the Newark Star-Eagle selected a nine-man dream from the city's best prep and public high schools. Moe was one of the nine.
Most of the students were East Side Italian Catholics or Protestants. After graduating from Barringer, Moe went to New York University for two semesters.
He transferred to Princeton University in 1919. He graduated magna cum laude in modern languages. He spoke Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit. It was said of Berg that because of being Jewish he never quite fit in the Princeton social life.
He subsequently had an impressive career in Major League baseball. The last team he played for was the Chicago White Sox. His baseball career was interrupted by his sense of duty to serve his country during WWII. For the rest of his story, watch The Catcher Was A Spy on Netflix. You want be disappointed.
All My Best!
Don
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