Author tells of his father’s life with baseball, war, changes

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By Mary Louise Speer | Monday, January 22, 2007 12:26 AM CST | () comments

Sometimes life interrupts what should be the most wonderful time of a person’s life.

Author Gary Moore of Illinois shared the story of “Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and a Field of Broken Dreams.” The book is about his father, Gene Moore, a story he shared Saturday at Zion Lutheran Church, Davenport. His talk was part of a service that celebrated the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

People who dream of doing something great with their lives will identify with the story, said the Rev. Del Preston, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.

“This is a book that will resonate with anyone who has humble beginnings,” he said. “It will also reverberate with anyone who has had circumstances that interrupt that dream.”

Gary Moore is the president and managing partner of Covenant Air and Water LLC., is a musician and author. He wrote the book while crossing the skies on Southwest Airlines. “Playing with the Enemy” hit the bookshelves in September and White Light Entertainment will begin filming a motion picture based on the book later this year, he said.

“I am an author who is a Christian. I am not a Christian author, but let me tell you the difference. I believe God is working through me,” Gary

Moore said.

He knows of many wonderful Christian writers who are widely read in the Christian community. The question for him is how to reach people who are not Christians with a Christian message, he said.

Ironically, he may not have ever written the book if it weren’t for a unexpected conversation with his father in 1983. Until that time, Gene Moore never told his son about being discovered by a talent scout at age 15. Gene grew up in Sesser, Ill. and most of the folks in the small town were either coal miners or farmers.

Watching the Southern Illinois Egyptians ball team was a favorite pastime of many. Gene was the starting catcher and the talent scout quickly realized he had found a quality player. He was young but playing for the St. Louis Granary Team would hone those skills. Eventually, he would be ready for the big time, the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Gene Moore was living his dream when the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Gary said. Unsure whether professional baseball would continue with so many men joining the service, the Dodgers steered Gene to the Navy where he would participate on an exhibition baseball team in northern Africa.

Later in 1944, he returned to the United States and was assigned to guard German prisoners-of-war who had served on the captured U-505 submarine.

The prisoners’ were forbidden access to the Red Cross and their presence at a camp in Louisiana was kept secret from the outside world, Gary Moore said. Gene Moore noticed some of the prisoners seemed interested in baseball — and he asked for permission to teach the Germans how to play.

The rest of the book recounts the consequences of that request — and how Gene lived the rest of his life after World War II.

Gary Moore is looking forward to seeing the book become a motion picture. Perhaps the sweetest part is knowing that his son, actor Toby Moore, will play the role of Gene Moore. Toby played Tommy Skakel in USA’s “Murder in Greenwich” movie with Robert Forster and Christopher Meloni and played a supporting role in “First Daughter” with Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas and Michael Keaton.

“This is certainly a dream come true,” Gary Moore.

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