Baseball Best-Sellers, March 27, 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. Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series, by Jesse Dougherty
2. Dick Bremer: Game Used: My Life in Stitches with the Minnesota Twins, by Dick Bremer with Jim Bruton
3. Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, by Eric Nusbaum
4. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman*
5. War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War, by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
6. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis *
7. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
8. The Boys of Summer (Harperperennial Modern Classics), by Roger Kahn
9. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, by Brad Balukjian
10. Baseball Prospectus 2020

E-BOOKS

1. 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
2. Buzz Saw
3. Baseball Card Vandals, by Beau Abbott and Bryan Abbot
4. The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, by Phil Pepe
5. Smart Baseball, by Keith Law
6. Game Used
7. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor
8. Moneyball
9. War Fever
10. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton

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

1. Buzz Saw (read by Angelo Di Loreto, #16 overall in sports)
2. 42 Faith (read by the author, #34)
3. The MVP Machine (read by Josh Hurley, #46)

The New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers and there are no baseball titles on either the fiction or non-fiction rolls.

A couple of new items for the list this week, both of which I’m anxious to see: War Fever and Baseball Card Vandals. If you’re unfamiliar with the latter, take a look here. Kind of surprised that something like this found a publisher, but also kind of glad. We need a chuckle right about now.

Still not on the Amazon top-ten list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 966,294; last time, 2,055,119. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 126,772 (last time, 509,522). Dramatic — and most welcome — increases for both!

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for suggestions for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501?

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.