Baseball Best Sellers, May 17, 2019

Note: The Amazon rankings are updated every hour, so these lists might not be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them (or even by the time I finish writing one). But close enough for government work, as the saying goes.

In addition, occasionally 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 (in my opinion). For example, a current title on the BBS list is The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect. “Why” is a good question. There might be a smattering of the national pastime in it, but not enough to make it a baseball book per se (again, IMO).

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

Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher, by David Cone and Jack Curry
Just Show Up: And Other Enduring Values from Baseball’s Iron Man, by Cal Ripken Jr. with James Dale
Ten Innings at Wrigley: The Wildest Ballgame Ever, with Baseball on the Brink, by Kevin Cook
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner (hardcover)
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
Ballpark: Baseball in the American City, by Paul Goldberger
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
My Dad, Yogi: A Memoir of a Baseball Family, by Dale Berra and Mark Ribowsky
Chumps to Champs: How the Worst Teams in Yankees History Led to the ’90s Dynasty, by Bill Pennington
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter (paperback edition)

E-BOOKS

Full Count
Moneyball
K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches
2019 Little League Rule Book
Chumps to Champs
Just Show Up
Ten Innings at Wrigley
2019 NFHS Baseball Rules Book
Where Nobody Knows Your Name, by John Feinstein
Edgar: An Autobiography, by Edgar Martinez with Larry Stone

AUDIOBOOKS (note: the links will take you to a sample of the audio via Amazon/Audible)

Moneyball (read by Scott Brick, #14 overall in sports)
Full Count (read by Cone, #15)
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches (read by the author, #35)
Astroball, (read by the author, #49)
Just Show Up (Read by Ripken, #51)

K, by NY Times baseball writer Kepner, is second on the May monthly sports list with 108 Stitches and Inside the Empire fifth and eighth, respectively.

Granted his work ethic was second to none, and with all due respect, but another motivational book by Ripken? Both his and Cone’s book appears on all three lists, as does the perpetual favorite, Moneyball and Kepner’s K.

Still not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 341,893; last time, 1,136,277. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 538,260 (last time, 212,763). By the way, I have compiled an Excel “checklist” of the books list in 501. If you’re interested in keeping track of how many you have read or own, drop me a line.

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.