Baseball Best-Sellers, October 12, 2018

Headnote: 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 perason 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. For example, this week the #2 book on the baseball best-seller list is The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect. “Why” is a good question.

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

Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game, by Rob Neyer
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 40
Wait Till Next Year – A Memoir, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Tigerland: 1968-1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing, by Wil Haygood
An October to Remember 1968: The Tigers-Cardinals World Series as Told by the Men Who Played in It, by Brendan Donley
Moneyball (Hardcover edition)

E-BOOKS

Powerball
The Big Fella
Moneyball
Francona: The Red Sox Years, by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy
Astroball
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee
Baseball Meat Market: The Stoires Behind the Best and Worst Trades in History, by Shawn Krest
I Never Had it Made, by Jackie Robinson and Alfred Duckett
Babe: The Legend Comes to Life, by Robert Creamer
Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Genius, by Bill Pennington

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)

The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch That Changed My Life, by Rick Ankiel (read by the author, #10 overall in sports)
Powerball, (read by the author, #32)
Moneyball, (read by Scott Brick, #38)
Astroball, (read by the author, #40)
The Big Fella, (read by the author and Fred Sanders, #47)
The Methany Manifesto, by Mike Methany (read by Mark Deakins, #69)
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton (read by the author, #86)
Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (read by the author, #88)

There are no baseball titles on The New York Times‘ monthly sports list.

Moneyball…Astroball…now Powerball. This is next on my “to-read” list once I finish The Big Fella. While I look forward to Neyer’s latest, I wonder about the “necessity” of another book which analyzes a single game. Of course, I say that in total ignorance of what the future holds when I do sit down with this one. I have long maintained that his 2008 release, the Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else was extremely influential in my own quest to suss out the veracity of many baseball (and real-life) stories that had been generally accepted as true.

Another observation: Leavy’s new Ruth bio seems to have generated some interested in Robert Creamer’s classic which has — at least until now — been considered the best of the Ruth chronologies. (Until now?)

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,500,724; last time: 1,210,312. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 333,938 (last time, 1,069,472. That’s quite a jump. I wonder if this had anything to do with it).

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.