{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260609T161823Z","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679762892?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0679762892","authors":["Nicholas Dawidoff"],"book_id":"9780679762898","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-catcher-was-a-spy-0679762892","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780679762898.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","description":"NATIONAL BESTSELLER Now a major motion picture starring Paul Rudd “A delightful book that recounts one of the strangest episodes in the history of espionage. . . . . Relentlessly entertaining.”— The New York Times Book Review Moe Berg is the only major-league baseball player whose baseball card is on display at the headquarters of the CIA. For Berg was much more than a third-string catcher who played on several major league teams between 1923 and 1939. Educated at Princeton and the Sorbonne, he as reputed to speak a dozen languages (although it was also said he couldn't hit in any of them) and went on to become an OSS spy in Europe during World War II. As Nicholas Dawidoff follows Berg from his claustrophobic childhood through his glamorous (though equivocal) careers in sports and espionage and into the long, nomadic years during which he lived on the hospitality of such scattered acquaintances as Joe DiMaggio and Albert Einstein, he succeeds not only in establishing where Berg went, but who he was beneath his layers of carefully constructed cover. As engrossing as a novel by John le Carré, The Catcher Was a Spy is a triumphant work of historical and psychological detection.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780679762898","publication_date":"19950530","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"the-catcher-was-a-spy","subtitle":"The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg","title":"The Catcher Was a Spy"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"SPO003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball History","score":0.735,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.724,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Coaching","score":0.7182,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"SPO003030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball History","score":0.735,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.724,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO003010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Baseball Coaching","score":0.7182,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BIO008000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Military Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BIO016000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Sports Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS027100","confidence_band":"high","label":"World War II History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Baseball History","score":0.735,"slug":"baseball-history"},{"label":"Baseball Essays","score":0.724,"slug":"baseball-essays"},{"label":"Baseball Coaching","score":0.7182,"slug":"baseball-coaching"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Baseball History","Good for readers interested in gifts","Good for fans of Baseball"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["John Feinstein"],"book_id":"9780307949585","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307949585.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":22.5385,"title":"Where Nobody Knows Your Name","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307949585"},{"authors":["Tim Brown","Erik Kratz"],"book_id":"9781538726556","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781538726556.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":22.5031,"title":"The Tao of the Backup Catcher","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781538726556"},{"authors":["Howard Bryant"],"book_id":"9780358047315","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780358047315.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":22.3887,"title":"Rickey","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780358047315"},{"authors":["Tim Kurkjian","George F. Will"],"book_id":"9781250129895","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250129895.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":22.096,"title":"I'm Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250129895"},{"authors":["Doris Kearns Goodwin"],"book_id":"9780684847955","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780684847955.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":22.0234,"title":"Wait Till Next Year","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780684847955"},{"authors":["Will Bardenwerper"],"book_id":"9780385549653","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780385549653.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":19.6631,"title":"Homestand","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780385549653"},{"authors":["John W. Miller"],"book_id":"9781668030929","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668030929.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":19.6628,"title":"The Last Manager","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781668030929"},{"authors":["Tim Brown"],"book_id":"9781538783054","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781538783054.jpg?v=20260609T161823Z%3A2026-06-09T22%3A50%3A17Z","score":19.1124,"title":"Nolan","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781538783054"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:russian history"],"label":"History","score":1,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:military history"],"label":"Military","score":0.5,"slug":"military"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:the catcher was a spy"],"label":"Catcher","score":0.5,"slug":"catcher"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: History, Military, Catcher.","Reading lane: Baseball History and Baseball Essays.","Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":2643,"goodreads_reviews_count":307,"quality_score":0.926}}