Baseball catcher who also served briefly as a spy for the United States. He is said to be the only baseball card on display at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. Casey Stengel once described Berg as “the strangest man ever to play baseball.” Handwritten notations, in pencil, on both sides of the October 27, 1951, Weekly Bulletin of Princeton University, 11 x 17. Berg lists many names and numbers in his difficult to decipher hand, including “Cady Italy - on cutting instruments, on each piece of cutlery, on the knives, on the blade, on the floor, Spoon…die sunk,” and a to do list on the front which reads, in part, “Nov ‘51 To Do, 1 - Frank McKinney 2 - German, Russian, Italian, French, 3 - shoes, 4 - suits (2).” In 1952, Berg was hired by the CIA to use his old contacts from World War II to find out about Soviet atomic science. For the $10,000 plus expenses that Berg received, the CIA got nothing in return. The CIA officer that spoke with Berg when he returned from Europe said that he was “flaky.” In very good condition, with small separations along intersecting folds, some light creasing, and light overall soiling from pencil. Auction LOA Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
