Baseball Best-Sellers, May 22, 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. Also no romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme either (and goodness knows there are a bunch of those).

So, with all that said…

PRINT

1. 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid, by Willie Mays and John Shea
2. Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay, by Todd Zolecki
3. Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir, by Alan D. Gaff
4. The Milwaukee Brewers at 50, by Adam McCalvy
5. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, by Brad Balukjian
6. Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between, by Eric Nusbaum
7. Mr. Met: How a Sports-Mad Kid from Jersey Became Like Family to Generations of Big Leaguers, by Jay Horwitz
8. Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask, by Jon Pessah
9. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
10. Rod Carew: One Tough Out: Fighting Off Life’s Curveballs, by Rod Carew with Jaime Aron

E-BOOKS

1. K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
2. The Wax Pack
3. The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, by Phil Pepe
4. 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
5. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
6. Mr. Met
7. The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter
8. Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir
9. Berra (Pessah)
10. Moneyball

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

1. 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid (Read by Julian McWilliams and Larry Herron, #6 overall in sports)
2. Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir (read by Angelo Di Loreto, #23)
3. Mr. Met (read by Barry Abrams, #39)
4. Yogi: A Life (read by Oliver Wyman, #41)
5. Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen (read by Malcolm Hillgartner, #93)

The New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers,  but 24 makes its debut on their weekly nonfiction list at #13. Kind of surprised that Mitchell Nathanson’s Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original isn’t there somewhere since it leads off the summer reading/sports review section. (FWIW, here’s my review from Bookreporter.com.)

I guess it depends on where you live and who you follow to see which is the more popular new book on the list: the coffee-table tribute to the Milwaukee Brewers or the memoir by the long-time Mets PR chief. (And yes, I had to look twice, too, to make sure it really was the golden anniversary of the team; remember, in 1969 they were the Seattle Pilots.) A bit disappointed that Horwitz didn’t do his own reading for the audiobook.

Still not on the Amazon top-ten list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 1,619,964; last time, 1,373,531. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,195,751 (last time, 298,394. Ouch.).

Shameless self-promotion: if you’re looking for some good baseball reading during this down time, why not pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the abridged dictionary; it has most of the other books in it.

Super-shameless self-promotion: And by the way, I am looking for a publisher for an revised edition of 501, UNP having passed on the opportunity. So if you have any suggestions, please drop me a line. Mucho appreciado.

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.

Tagged as: Baseball Cards, Jay Horwitz, Jim Bouton, Los Angeles Dodgers, Lou Gehrig, Milwaukee Brewers, Moneyball, Rod Carew, Roy Halladay, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra