Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and a Field of Broken Dreams - Hardcover

In 1940, at just 15 years old, small-town baseball star Gene Moore was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers, who saw in him the potential to become one of the great catchers of all time. Before that could happen, though, WWII intervened. Gene's story, a surprising paean to the power and humanity of a game, is told here by his son, a first-time author who exhibits the confidence and pacing of a pro. His gripping material certainly helps: after several years overseas in the Navy's touring baseball team, Gene was brought back to Louisiana and assigned to guard secret German POWs, whose U-boat was captured just days before the storming of Normandy. There, Gene teaches his German captives how to play baseball, with a number of unintended and life-altering consequences. When Gene's finally able to return home to Sesser, Ill., he's "on crutches, depressed and embarrassed," holing up in the local bar and prompting one bartender to lament, "he's become one of us, when we were hoping he would make us like him." Gene's journey from promise to despair and back again, set against a long war and an even longer post-war recovery, retains every bit of its vitality and relevance, a 20th-century epic that demonstrates how, sometimes, letting go of a dream is the only way to discover one's great fortune--Publisher's Weekly

Born in a tiny, one-horse town in Ilinois, Gene Moore quickly discovered he had one remarkable gift: an ability to play baseball like a Major League hitter. Before long, Moore was being selected alongside men twice his age to play on the town team. Word spread halfway across the United States about a country boy who could hit the ball a country mile. The Brooklyn Dodgers wanted to take a look at this 15-year-old farm kid, barely old enough to shave. Without a doubt, Moore was set for baseball stardom, but the attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. Inspired by true events, Playing with the Enemy is a riveting story of a depression-era youth and his brush with destiny. Instead of experiencing the glory of the Major Leagues, war sent Gene's life careening off into an unexpected and unwanted direction. After a lifetime of experiences jammed into a handful of years, a woman he didn't know picked him up from a barroom floor, dusted him off, and helped him stand up and be the man he once was. From Sesser, Illinois, to the capture of German submarine U-505, to playing baseball with the enemy, this is a unique and exciting story that will capture the heart of any baseball fan. About the Author Gary W. Moore is the president and managing partner of Covenant Air& Water, LLC, a motivational speaker, and an accomplished musician. Gene Moore was his father. Gary lives in Bourbonnais, Illinois. JimMorris was a pitcher who made it into the Tampa Bay Devil Rayas as a 35-year-old pitcher and was the subject of the film The Rookie.