Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, World War II, and the Long Journey Home by Gary W. Moore is an interesting, inspiring, and frustrating book.
The interesting story revolves around the main character, the author's father, Gene Moore. Gene was a gifted catcher who was signed to a contract by the Brooklyn Dodgers at the age of 15. The Dodgers saw to it that he was assigned to the Navy baseball team, which would compete against the Army team as a form of entertainment for the troops. Later, the Navy team is sent to Camp Ruston, Louisiana to guard German POWs from a U-boat. Gene, bored and desperate to keep his baseball skills sharp, convinces the camp commander to permit the team to teach the POWs the game of baseball. (Hence, the title.) In the final game, after V-E Day and before the Germans were to be shipped to England, Gene broke his ankle sliding into home, essentially ruining his baseball career.
The inspiring story revolves Gene's rise from despair and alcoholism that the sudden end to his baseball career precipitated. Along the way, and in spite of his crippled ankle, he is given a second chance by the Pittsburgh Pirates who, not only hope he can catch again, but also want him to help his old Navy teammate, Ray Laws to the majors. It is not until 1959, however, when Gene receives a visit from a former POW with whom he had built a friendship, that he finally embraces his life without baseball and learnes the old adage that a man is content when he is happy with what he has.
The frustrating part of this book is that it is based on the story of Gene Moore and so the dialogue and much of the detail is an invention. Some of that dialogue, especially that which takes place between Gene, his brother Ward, and Ward's girlfriend Jamie in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, is particularly stilted and rather contemporary in tone. At other times, the narration seems off, such as the author's description of a pop out to "deep center field." More than that, however, is the realization that while this is a "true" story, Ray Laws, for example, is a fictional character; one based on an actual pitcher, the identity of whom the author cannot discover. To be fair, Gene revealed his baseball career to his son only shortly before his death, but this does not lessen the frustration for the reader. I am biased, as I much prefer history to fiction and therefore, I found myself wishing that the book was all of the former and none of the latter. Every interesting detail was diminished by the nagging thought that perhaps that detail was entirely fictional. Indeed, Gene's brother Ward, an important character early on, simply disappears from the last quarter of the book. Perhaps Ward was an invention, too.
Others may not share my frustration with the hybrid structure of Playing with the Enemy. Despite a flaw that stood out to me, I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in baseball or World War II. It is also certainly a worthy read for anyone who enjoys stories of redemption.
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