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. For the sake of brevity, I will be omitting the subtitles, which have become ridiculously long in in some cases in recent years, also at my discretion.
The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse, by Molly Knight
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
, by Michael Lewis
- The Science of Hitting
, by Ted Williams
- Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty
, by Charles Leerhsen
- Molina: The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty
, by Bengie Molina
- Big Data Baseball: Math, Miracles, and the End of a 20-Year Losing Streak
, by Travis Sawchik
- Pedro
, by Pedro Martinez and Michael Silverman (My review on Bookreporter.com)
- The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance
, by H.A. Dorfman
- Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Genius
, by Bill Pennington (My Bookreporter review here.)
- Baltimore Orioles: 60 Years of Orioles Magic
, by Jim Henneman
New York Times: On the current list, Martinez’s memoir is #5, followed by Jorge Posada’s The Journey Home: My Life in Pinstripesat #6, Leerhsen’s Cobb bio at #9, Big Data Baseball at #11, and the Molina book, #13.
Not on either list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. As of this post, the ranking is 234,244, up nicely from last week’s 691,678 but we can always Thank you.
Amazon has incorporated a new feature. Before they would list a book that appears in the top 100 of numerous categories and sub-categories; now it’s the top 1,000. I think I liked it better the other way. For what it’s worth 501 is currently in the top 225 in three areas:
- #138 in Books > Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Publishing & Books > Bibliographies & Indexes
- #186 in Books > Reference > Encyclopedias & Subject Guides > Sports
- #224 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Reference
If you have read 501, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing a review for the Amazon page. 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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