Baseball Best-Sellers, March 13, 2020

Is it just me, or have we seem to have more than pour fair share of Friday the 13ths recently?

As we inch closer and closer not just to the beginning of the playing season, but the reading season as well when new titles hit the stores.

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. Baseball Prospectus 2020
2. Baseball America 2020 Prospect Handbook
3. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
4. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman*
5. The Boys of Summer (Harperperennial Modern Classics), by Roger Kahn
6. Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series, by Jesse Dougherty
7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis *
8. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
9. The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchick
10. Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2019

E-BOOKS

1. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor
2. The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, by Phil Pepe
3. The Cloudbuster Nine, by Anne Keene
4. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
5. Smart Baseball, by Keith Law
6. Moneyball
7. The Boys of Summer
8. Baseball Prospectus
9. 2020 NFHS Baseball Rules Book
10. Francona: The Red Sox Years, by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy

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

1. The MVP Machine (read by Josh Hurley, #54 overall in sports)

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

Nothing really new here.I expect that to change soon as more 2020 titles hit the shelves. And with the delay of the season, what else do you have to do except read all about it?

Still not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 2,084,288; last time, 2,081,199. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,225,989 (last time, 1,012,144). I think the time is coming soon when I’ll just mention that I have a couple of books out there without reporting the sinking numbers.

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.