The Spy

Moe Berg had a 15-year Major League career spanning four different teams. It wasn't his achievements on the field that set him apart though, rather it was the profession he chose after putting away his bat that sets him apart.

At seven-years-old, Berg began playing baseball. More importantly was the intellect he showed at an early age, speaking seven languages. Berg went on to study modern languages at Princeton, where he continued to play baseball, often choosing to speak only in Latin or Sanskrit on the field. After graduating magna cum laude from Princeton, Berg studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris and law at Columbia University.

After 15 undistinguished seasons as a ballplayer, he went to work as a spy for the United States during World War II, parachuting into Yugoslavia for the Office of Strategic Services and interviewing Italian physicists about the German nuclear program. He spent 10 years working as a spy. His baseball card is on display at CIA headquarters.

Berg died in 1972, never getting around to writing his memoir where he planned to tell his entire story. Some are left to wonder whether his baseball career was also a big rouse, a coverup for the American spy.