Moe Berg was a man of many masks. The MLB catcher “loved being a mystery” and “was a loner who wanted to experience the world,” we’re told in a new trailer for documentary about him. He was “the ultimate Jewish athlete” and a polyglot Princeton and Columbia alum. Berg was also a spy for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII. Aviva Kempner explores Berg’s dual identity — baseball player and secret agent — in the aptly-titled “The Spy Behind Home Plate.”
As an OSS agent, Berg went behind enemy lines and gathered intelligence for the Manhattan Project, we learn in the spot. And as incongruous as baseball and international espionage sound on paper, Berg’s skills as a catcher may have made him a great spy.
“The catcher has to have that bird’s eye view,” one character explains. “He’s assessing what’s in front of him, where the base runners are, how fast they are, what scores, what inning is it, who’s pitching, what’s his stuff, who’s up, what can he hit, what can’t he hit, how do we win the game,” he describes.
Kempner wrote, directed, and produced “The Spy Behind Home Plate.” She previously helmed feature docs “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg,” “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg,” and “Rosenwald.”
“The Spy Behind Home Plate” opens May 24 in Washington, D.C. and will expand to other select cities in the following weeks.
