Baseball Best-Sellers, March 29, 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

Inside the Empire: The True Power Behind the New York Yankees, by Bob Klapisch and Paul Solotaroff
After The Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the ’69 Mets, by Art Shamsky and Erik Sherman
Baseball Prospectus 2019
Infinite Baseball: Notes from a Philosopher at the Ballpark, by Alva Noe
They Said It Couldn’t Be Done: The ’69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History, by Wayne Coffey
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter (paperback edition)
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter (hardcover edition)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood

E-BOOKS

Inside the Empire
Baseball Anecdotes, by Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf
The Roger Angell Baseball Collection
Now Pitching for the New York Yankees, by Marty Appel
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy
Moneyball
Babe & the Kid: The Legendary Story of Babe Ruth and Johnny Sylvester, by Charlie Poekel
2019 Little League Rule Book
After the Miracle
Astroball

AUDIOBOOKS

Moneyball, (read by Scott Brick, #22 overall in sports)
Astroball, (read by the author, #24)

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

The season is underway and as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Miracle Mets, we have two books on the topic. Also new to these recaps: Infinite Baseball, one of my most anticipated reads. I guess most people have picked their fantasy teams, accounting perhaps for the steep drop-off in research materials such as Baseball America, Ron Shandler, and others provide.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 876,962; last time: 1,281,746. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 849,442 (last time, 1,457,006).

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.