Besides being a Jewish ballplayer, he has a popular culture place far above Schact. Berg's story is quite compelling: Ivy League educated lawyer who would rather spend time as a bullpen catcher than working at a far more lucrative profession [he said "I'd rather be a ballplayer than a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court."], early recruit to the OSS, an actual overseas spy. At one point he was tasked with attending a conference in Switzerland to evaluate Werner Heisenberg's progress on the A bomb, with instructions to assassinate him if Heisenberg seemed to be close to building a bomb]. He parachuted into occupied Yugoslavia to work with and evaluate the various resistance groups. His wartime services resulted in the Medal of Freedom [2nd highest civilian honor at the time]. He was the subject of a best-selling book,
The Catcher Was A Spy. Also a very popular character of the day who seemed to know everyone from the President on down. Here he is with Joe Louis.
