Baseball Best-Sellers, August 30, 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

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchick
If These Walls Could Talk: Boston Red Sox, by Jerry Remy and Nick Cafardo
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2019
The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Jeff Silverman
Astroball: The New Way to Win It All, by Ben Reiter
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton
Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up, by Alex Speier

E-BOOKS

Driving Mr. Yogi: Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, and Baseball’s Greatest Gift, by Harvey Araton
Moneyball
Ball Four
October 1964, by David Halberstam
Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, by Tim Hornbaker
The Final Game at Ebbets Field, by Noel Hynd
The MVP Machine
Astroball
Homegrown
If These Walls Could Talk

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

The MVP Machine (read by Josh Hurley, #23 overall in sports, which is now, for some reason, under the general category “Biographies and Memoirs.” Yeah, I don’t understand either.)
Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (read by the author, #70)
Full Count, by David Cone and Jack Curry (read by the author, #72)
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leershen (read by Malcolm Hillgartner, #75)
For the Good of the Game: The Inside Story of the Surprising and Dramatic Transformation of Major League Baseball, by Bud Selig and Phil Rogers (read by Arthur Morey, #91)

Three of the top ten books on the NY Times‘ monthly sports list are about baseball, including For the Good of the Game (#5), If These Walls Could Talk (#6), and Ballpark: Baseball in the American City, by Paul Goldberger. (#10).

Back after a long absnece is Silverman’s collection of baseball stories. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same.

Still not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,870,132; last time, 1,694,020. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,641,174 (last time, 1,593,525). I’d get a kick if these two ever finished back-to-back. 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 consumer 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.