Baseball Best-Sellers, March 1, 2019

Headnote: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so 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 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. For example, for some reason a 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

Baseball Prospectus 2019
Baseball America 2019 Prospect Handbook
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2019, by Steve Pisapia
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Undferwood
Ron Shandler’s 2019 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics
The Story of Baseball: In 100 Photographs, Sports Illustrated
Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises, by Tom Stone
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy

E-BOOKS

Baseball Prospectus 2019
Moneyball
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2019
2019 Little League Rule Book
Astroball
Francona: The Red Sox Years, by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy
The Big Fella
The Fantasy Benefit: 2019 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, by Justin Mason
The Bill James Handbook
2019 NFHS Baseball Rules Book

AUDIOBOOKS

Astroball, (read by the author, #21 overall in sports)
Moneyball, (read by Scott Brick, #31)
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (read by the author, #99)

The Big Fella ranks #7 on the current New York Times‘ monthly sports list.

Nothing new under the sun. Started receiving review copies this week, including Wayne Coffey’s They Said It Couldn’t Be Done: The ’69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History; Doc, Donnie, the Kid, and Billy Brawl: How the 1985 Mets and Yankees Fought for New York’s Baseball Soul, by Chris Donnelly; and Let’s Play Two: The Legend of Mr. Cub, the Life of Ernie Banks by Ron Rappaport. These will be the subject of one of my regular baseball book roundups for Bookreporter.com in the next month or so. Stay tuned.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,506,001; last time: 1,216,048. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,361,713 (last time, 1,263,627).

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.