1933 Goudey #158 Moe Berg
Moe Berg — big-league catcher, Princeton-educated linguist, and later a WWII OSS spy. One of the hobby’s great story cards.
About Moe Berg
Morris "Moe" Berg (1902-1972) was a Newark-born catcher whose 15-year major-league career ran from 1923 to 1939, but he is remembered as much for his intellect as his glove. A Princeton graduate fluent in multiple languages who later earned a Columbia Law degree (1930), Berg broke in with Brooklyn in 1923 as a shortstop before converting to catcher in 1927 with the Chicago White Sox out of roster necessity. He went on to play for Cleveland, the Washington Senators (his club on this 1933 Goudey card), and the Boston Red Sox, prized for a strong throwing arm and game-calling smarts despite a light bat -- a .243 career average with only six home runs, prompting one scout's famous wire, "Good field, no hit." In 1934 he reportedly set an American League record with 117 consecutive errorless games behind the plate, and that same year he toured Japan with an American all-star squad that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig -- a trip Berg used to secretly photograph Tokyo from a hospital rooftop, images later reviewed before the 1942 Doolittle Raid. Casey Stengel called him "the strangest man ever to play baseball." After retiring, Berg served in the OSS during World War II under the code name "Remus," assessing Yugoslav resistance factions and traveling to Zurich to judge whether Nazi physicist Werner Heisenberg's team was close to an atomic bomb. He was awarded, but declined to accept, the Medal of Freedom.
Sources: Wikipedia · Baseball-Reference · SABR
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 616 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 32 | 38 | 77 | 438 | 8 |
| SGC | 369 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 34 | 289 | 29 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Snapshot 2026-07-03. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the 1933 Goudey Moe Berg card?
It is card #158 of the 1933 Goudey (R319) Baseball set - the 240-card, 2-3/8 by 2-7/8 inch color-art set issued in 1933 with Big League Chewing Gum. It pictures Moe Berg with the Washington Senators.
Is the 1933 Goudey Moe Berg #158 a rookie card?
By modern catalog convention, yes. 1933 Goudey is treated as the hobby's first major nationally distributed gum set, so nearly every card in it carries the rookie-card (RC) designation - a modern label applied retroactively, since many of these players had earlier tobacco, caramel, or strip cards.
How many cards are in the 1933 Goudey set?
240 numbered cards, though collectors usually count 241 collectible cards because #6 Jimmy Dykes exists in an error and a corrected version. Only 239 numbers were in 1933 packs - #106 (Nap Lajoie) was printed in 1934 and issued by mail.
Sources: Trading Card Database, Baseball-Reference, PSA & SGC population reports, and hobby press-sheet research. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-05.