Playing With the Enemy
Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and a Field of Broken Dreams, by Gary W. Moore, is an engaging non-fiction book that should appeal to just about everyone.
Summary:
At its essence, baseball, World War II and family are what this book is about. But it is so much more. We get to know Gene Moore, born in the southern Illinois farming town of Sesser. We see Gene grow up, not as a coal miner or as a pig farmer (as his family expected), but as a baseball prodigy. In addition, he was the best catcher baseball his town had ever seen and he was on his way to becoming an all-star. Gene was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers at the age of fifteen. He left his hometown to play in the minors and had a great first year. Then Pearl Harbor happened and his career took a detour.
The Dodgers arranged for Gene to play baseball for a team sponsored by the Navy. By doing so, he would be serving his country and staying out of harm’s way while honing his baseball skills. I was surprised to learn that both the Navy and the Army sponsored baseball teams that played for the troops, helping with troop morale. Although Gene felt guilty he was not fighting for his country in combat, he was doing what he felt he was born to do – play ball. Then the U.S. captured the German U-505 submarine on June 4, 1944. (This is the same U-boat that is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.)
Most of the submarine crew were captured and secretly sent to a prisoner of war camp. The camp guards were the Navy baseball team. Yes, this is true! To help keep their skills they arranged to play a form of baseball with the German prisoners. As the war ended, they decided to play one last baseball game against there prisoners, which as called the “Friendship Game.”
In an effort not to spoil the ending, this is where I stop talking about the book.
Review:
I really liked the story. Fortunately, I was able to attend an event at my local library where the author, Gary Moore (Gene Moore’s son) spoke. He was fantastic and it was so interesting to learn how he researched the story. He did not know of his father’s baseball background until he himself was a grown man.
I highly recommend the book and give it 4.5 stars out of 5.
The movie rights have been purchased. I can’t wait for it to come out!
Another book suggestion:
Another non-fiction book I reviewed and loved is Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women.
Published Book Reviews:
- https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-932714-24-1
- http://www.playingwiththeenemy.com/article_025.htm
Something About the Author:
http://garywmoore.net/2014/?page_id=133