Baseball Best-Sellers, March 8, 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
After The Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the ’69 Mets, by Art Shamsky and Erik Sherman
Baseball America 2019 Prospect Handbook
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter
Ron Shandler’s 2019 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy
The Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball, by John Helyar
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2019, by Steve Pisapia

E-BOOKS

Fall from Grace:The truth and Tragedy of ‘Shoeless Joe’ Jackson, by Tim Hornbaker
Baseball Prospectus 2019
After the Miracle
Moneyball
2019 Little League Rule Book
Astroball
Francona: The Red Sox Years, by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy
2019 NFHS Baseball Rules Book
The 2091 Prospect Digest Handbook, by Joseph Werner
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2019

AUDIOBOOKS

Moneyball, (read by Scott Brick, #22 overall in sports)
Astroball, (read by the author, #27)
The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Thing in Sports, by Jeff Passan (read by Kevin Pierce, #89)

The Big Fella ranks #6 on the current New York Times‘ monthly sports list.

Here we go. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Miracle Mets, so look for all of those titles to gain traction on the list. Unfortunately, the sad news about Tom Seaver’s dementia might well play a role in additional interest, since he was the mainstay of that team and indeed, given the nickname “The Franchise,” is the most popular player in the team’s history.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,683,265; last time: 1,506,001. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,434,025 (last time, 1,361,713).

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.