Baseball Best-Sellers, May 29, 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. Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay, by Todd Zolecki
2. 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid, by Willie Mays and John Shea
3. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, by Brad Balukjian
4. Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir, by Alan D. Gaff
5. Mr. Met: How a Sports-Mad Kid from Jersey Became Like Family to Generations of Big Leaguers, by Jay Horwitz
6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
8. Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original, by Mitchell Nathanson
9. The Milwaukee Brewers at 50, by Adam McCalvy
10. Buzz Saw: The Improbable Story of How the Washington Nationals Won the World Series, by Jesse Dougherty

E-BOOKS

1. Ball Four
2. Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original
3. The Summer of Beer and Whiskey, by Edward Achorn
4. The Wit and Wisdom of Yogi Berra, by Phil Pepe
5. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee Jr.
6. The Wax Pack
7. 24
8. Moneyball
9. Doc
10. Gehrig

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, #19 overall in sports)
2. Yogi: A Life (read by Oliver Wyman, #50)
3. Mr. Met (read by Barry Abrams, #54)
4. Bouton: The Life (read by Barry Abrams, #63)
5. Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir (read by Angelo Di Loreto, #67)
6. The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy (read by Fred Sanders, #90)

The New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers. 24 falls off the list after debuting last week at #13.

Surprised to see Doc atop the list, all due respect.

Nathanson’s Bouton bio is starting to generate some heat. Obviously the late pitcher-cum-author could not do the audio book himself, but here he is, talking about doing the narration for Ball Four.

Still not on the Amazon top-ten list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 1,819,268; last time, 1,619,964. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 449,794 (last time, 1,195,751).

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: Babe Ruth, Jay Horwitz, Jim Bouton, Lou Gehrig, New York Mets, New Yortk Yankees, Roy Halladay, Washington Nationals, Yogi Berra