Baseball Best-Sellers, January 17, 2020

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 romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme either. And goodness knows there are a bunch of those).

A new “service.” The asterisked books titles are available via Scribd.com, a website that allows you to read and listen to various titles for one flat monthly fee. You can also download them to your device. Click here to see what other titles they have “in stock,” although, like Amazon, you’ll get a few things that you might not consider “true” baseball books as you and I might define them. Well worth the money. You’re welcome.

So, with all that said…

PRINT

1. The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2020, by Joe Pisapia
2. Ron Shandler’s 2020 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics, by Ron Shandler (Several of Shandler’s previous editions are available via Scribd)
3. Baseball Prospectus 2020
4. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis *
5. Baseball America 2020 Almanac
6. The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchick
7. Baseball America 2020 Prospect Handbook
8. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
9. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman*
10. Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2019

E-BOOKS

1. Imperfect: An Improbable Life, by Jim Abbott with Tim Brown
2. Moneyball
3. The Batter’s Box: A Novel about Baseball, War, and Love, by Andy Kutler
4. The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, by Phil Pepe
5. Francona: The Red Sox Years, by Terry Francona with Dan Shaughnessy
6. The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2020
7. The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter
8. Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, by Tim Hornbaker
9. 2020 NFHS Baseball Rules Book
10. Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Line, by Tom Dunkel

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

1. The MVP Machine (read by Josh Hurley, #34 overall in sports)
2. Imperfect (read by the author, #94)

The New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers.

Didn’t have to change anything in the print Top Ten list and the only change among e-books was the addition of Jim Abbott’s memoir.

Still not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,699,099; last time, 1,144,572. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 383,989 (last time, 1,454,374).

A reminder: There’s 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.