A reminder: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish posting them). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes.
In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it should not be listed (in my opinion). For example, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on the BBS list. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).
Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers. Also no “adult” books here, that is, no romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme either (although goodness knows there are a bunch of those).
So, with all that said…
The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. The asterisk denotes the author is a “member” of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club.
The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit, by Ron Shelton- Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story, by Curt Smith
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
- The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
- The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
- Rickey: The Life of an American Legend, by Howard Bryant
- The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
- Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2022
- The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
- Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played, by Jeff Fletcher
KINDLE BOOKS
- The Church of Baseball
- Baseball Field Guide
- Moneyball
- Pull Up a Chair
- Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay
- Rickey
- The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra
- The Baseball 100
- Beauty at Short: Dave Bancroft, the Most Unlikely Hall of Famer and His Wild Times in Baseball’s First Century
- Ball Four: 50th Anniversary Edition
AUDIBLE
Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual titles, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.
- The Church of Baseball
- Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
- The Baseball 100
- Rickey
- Calico Joe
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch
- The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter
- The Mathany Manifesto
- The Bad Guys Won
- The MVP Machine
No surprise that the Vin Scully bio is on the list this week. The surprise is that the audio book is on it as well.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 2,081,454 overall in books; last time, 2,379,377. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,201,251; last time, 2,081,454. Still only $1.99 for the Kindle version. Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the abridged dictionary; it has most of the other books in it.
A reminder: There’s an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.
If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.
is available on Amazon.com,
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