Baseball Best-Sellers, December 9, 2022

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” adult books (no romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those available).

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.

PRINT

1. The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, by Jeff Pearlman
2. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
3. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
4. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
5. The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard BoSox Fans! , by Ray Walker
6. The Ultimate St. Louis Cardinals Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Cardinals Fans! , by Ray Walker
7. A Game of Extremes: 25 Exceptional Baseball Stories about What Happened on and off the Field, by Roy Lingster
8. The Ultimate Atlanta Braves Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Braves Fans!, by Ray Walker
9. The Grandest Stage: A History of The World Series, by Tyler Kepner
10. The Ultimate Los Angeles Dodgers Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Dodgers Fans!, by Ray Walker

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America
2. Moneyball
3. The Cloudbuster Nine
4. The Baseball 100
5. A Season Never to be Forgotten
6. The Sputnik Season
7. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas (May 16, 2023)
8. Warren Spahn: A Biography of the Legendary Lefty
9. Miracle Year 1969:  Amazing Mets and Super Jets
10. The Era, 1947-57

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.

1. Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
2. The Baseball 100
3. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original
4. The Bad Guys Won
5. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter
6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
   
7. The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg
8. Heads-Up Baseball
9. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood
10. October 1964

With the exception of one Ray Walker trivia book replacing another Ray Walker Trivia book, nothing has change in the print section. Looking forward to the one about the Savannah Bananas, who were a pretty hot item this year, bringing some much-missed fun to the game again.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,964,364 overall in books; last time, 1,474,235. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,421,952; last time, 2,308,407. 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.