NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on with the show…
Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); because I’m old school.
Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work.
Caveat 3: Sometimes they’ll try to pull one over on you and include a book within a category that doesn’t belong. I’m using my discretion to eliminate such titles from my list. For example, for some reason a recent listing included Tarnished Heels: How Unethical Actions and Deliberate Deceit at the University of North Carolina Ended the “The Carolina Way,” which, far as I can tell, is not at all about baseball, at least not in the main.
This Old Man: All in Pieces, by Roger Angell- Sports Illustrated Baseball’s Greatest, by SI
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
- Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, by Bob Gibson with Lonnie Wheeler (you can listen to a Bookshelf Conversation with Wheeler here).
- Taking the Crown: The Kansas City Royals’ Amazing 2015 Season, by Matt Fulks
- The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse, by Molly Knight
- The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Jerry Silverman
- Jeter Unfiltered, by Jeter
- More Than a Season: Building a Championship Culture, by Dayton Moore.
- If These Walls Could Talk: St. Louis Cardinals: Stories from the St. Louis Cardinals Dugout, Locker Room, and Press Box, by Stan McNeal
It’s new to me: No disrespect intended, but I’ve never been a fan of books like If These Walls…. To me they’re “clip jobs,” which I define as books that relay on brief anecdotes, either original or culled from previous publications.
New York Times: Only one title appears in the top 20 and it’s a seemingly odd on: The Matheny Manifesto, by the St. Louis Cardinal’s manager (with Jerry B. Jenkins), which weighs in at #15. Not surprisingly, no baseball titles crack the Times‘ Top Ten list for the year (and none among the “100 Notable Books” of 2015 either). There is, however, one “sports” title include: H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald, which, I’m sorry, doesn’t strike me as belonging in this genre.
Not on either the Amazon or Times’ monthly list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. This week: 1,019,341. Last week: 453,789. What gives? Holiday time, folks.
If you have read 501, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing a review for the Amazon page; it’s never too late. There haven’t been any in awhile. Doesn’t have to be long (or even complimentary, if you didn’t like it), but anything would be appreciated. And thanks to those who have.
is available on Amazon.com,
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