If it fits on a bookshelf, it fits here.

Amazon keeps changing the way they report, so that will be mirrored here. Sometimes there will be rankings of Kindle and audio-books on baseball, other times, not.

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 (see my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks“).

In addition, occasionally the powers-that-be over there try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category in 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 Amazon’s 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 (i.e., 12 and under). Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those out there).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I had with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a “Ω” means it’s an award winner, almost always in the print version.

PRINT

1. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
2. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene (my Bookshelf review here)
3. The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner, by Mike Vaccaro
4. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω
5. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
6. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole
7. Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, by A.M. Gittlitz
8. The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
9. The Ultimate Baseball Trivia Challenge, by Hank Patton
10. The Baseball 100, by Posnanski

KINDLE

1. The Physics of Baseball: Third Edition, by Robert Adair
2. Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will
3. The Cincinnati Reds of the 1970s: A Dynasty for the Ages, by Bill Brown
4. It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s, by Doug Kurkul
5. Seasons in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and, “the Worst Baseball Team in History”—The 1973–1975 Texas Rangers, by Mike Shropshire
6. Late Innings, by Roger Angell

AUDIO BOOKS

1. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
2. The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform – and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman (narrated by the author)
3. Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
4. Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
5. Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, by Eric Nussbaum (my review of the print edition on Bookreporter.com)
6. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original, by Howard Bryant

Not much has changed over the past week. No new titles in a while.

Just finished listening to Kings and Pawns and was shocked by the revelations that — according to Howard Bryant, whose Rickey Henderson bio is also in the top ten audio titles — Branch Rickey was much less the saint than we have been led to believe in this story. Also the dealings of Robeson and Robinson with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) is quite reminiscent of what we see these days, with all the animosity and hard feelings between witnesses and committee members.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,662,381, in books overall; last time, 2,299,452.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 501,172;  last time, 3,484,272. I wonder if Robert Hirsch’s new book, Playing Ball While Jewish: Silence and Prejudice in Major League Baseball, which debuts on the charts this week, has anything to do with that? (FYI, it would have ranked #12.)

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 dictionary; it has the other books in it, which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

BUT…

Some exciting news (now we’ll see who’s paying attention and reading down this far).

Necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to emergency surgery in which I said goodbye to a recalcitrant gallbladder, I have a couple off months for recuperation during which time I will be working on a revision of 501.

The new version will include all the original stuff but as you know if you’re a baseball reading fool, there have been a lot of great books published since 501 came out a dozen years ago. So since this isn’t a ranking where one title might be pushed off the list, the new material will appear as an added chapter.

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.

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