Baseball Best-Sellers, March 23, 2018

I’ve decided to bow to the times and include separate lists for e-books and audio books. Be aware that while many titles also appear in print versions, pretty much anyone can produce an e-book these days, so I’m not going to comment at all about the quality. As far as the audio goes, I’m a big fan of these, especially when the author is the reader, since who knows better how it should “sound” than the person who created it?

The other caveats remain the same, however: 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.

In addition, sometimes the list-makers will try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category to which it should not be listed. 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. I’m using my discretion to eliminate such titles here.

Finally, adults only here. That is, no books for younger readers (although no erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme either. And goodness knows there are a bunch of those).

So, with all that said…

PRINT

Baseball Prospectus 2018
The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman
Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages, by David Ross with Don Yeager
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Baby Bombers: The Inside Story of the Next Yankees Dynasty, by Bryan Hoch
Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Player Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseball, by Bob Tewksbury and Scott Miller
The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance, by H.A. Dorfman
Baseball America 2018 Prospect Handbook
Baseball: Great Records, Weird Happenings, Odd Facts, Amazing Moments & Other Cool Stuff, by Ron Martirano
The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life, by Mike Methany with Jerry B. Jenkins

E-BOOKS

2018 Little League Rulebook
Saving Babe Ruth, by Tom Swyers
Make The Right Call 2018: The Casebook of Little League Baseball and Softball
Moneyball
Lou Gehrig: Pride of the Yankees, by Paul Galico
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2018, by Joe Pisapia
Try Not to Suck, by Bill Chastain
2018 NFHS Baseball Rules Book
2018 Baseball Prospectus
Ninety Percent Mental, by Tewksbury

AUDIOBOOKS (out of the top 100 sports best-sellers. The links will take you to the Amazon page where you can listen to a sample of the book)

Moneyball (read by Scott Brick, #22 overall in sports)
Watching Baseball Smarter, by Zack Hample (read by Barry Abrams, #69)
Gator: My Life in Pinstripes, by Ron Guidry (read by the author, #85)

Let’s get “mental”: Two titles concerning that side of the game. Look for my interview with Bryan Hoch at the beginning of the week. A P.S. on last week’s book by Augie Garrido, the all-time game winning coach in NCAA D1: I’m guessing the uptick in interest was caused by the recent passing of the author.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ (duh) lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,357,206; last time: 1,171,421. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 598,985 (last time, 696,636). By the way, this article from Sports Collectors Digest puts the Greenberg book at #10 on its list of best baseball books of 2017.

If you have read either of those books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late. (And thanks to those who have.) Doesn’t have to be long or even complimentary, if you didn’t like it. Although I would warn you to understand what it is you’re reading. My editor tells me I shouldn’t worry over bad reviews and normally I don’t. But one Greenberg reviewer complained because apparently he felt it wasn’t long enough and that it wasn’t a full biography. Sorry, but caveat emptor: The title clearly states this book covers just one season in his career. If you’re disappointed for that reason, then that’s on you.