" Dawidoff has taken a mythic character and exposed him as an eccentric crank whose oversized feet were made almost entirely of clay . Dawidoff has accumulated a vast body of information in a remarkable job of research , especially considering that Berg , who died of a heart attack at age 70 in 1972 , deliberately cloaked the details of his life in mystery . What Dawidoff has failed to do is distill it into a story calculated to hold a reader 's interest . Rather , he presents an almost legalistic mass of evidence to prove that Berg followed up a career ( 1923-39 ) as a pseudo intellectual , third-string catcher by becoming a mediocre WW II spy , and then spent the last 25 years of his life as an unemployed vagabond , living off his charm and his wit and his vast store of friends . The only mystery left at the end of the book is whether to feel pity for Berg as a tragic , unfulfilled genius or irritation with him as a boor who gets more attention than he deserved . The reader is left knowing immeasurably more about Moe Berg , and caring immeasurably less . " In April 2016 , it was announced that American actor Paul Rudd would portray Berg in the upcoming biographical film '' The Catcher Was a Spy '' . The film was directed by Ben Lewin and received its world premiere on January 19 , 2018 , at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival
2018 Sundance Film Festival
2018 Sundance Film Festival
The Catcher Was a Spy