Baseball Best-Sellers, October 2, 2020

October 2, 2020

Has it really been three weeks since the last one of these? My, my…

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.

aIn 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…

NEW FEATURE: By the way, the links by the authors’ names will take you to any Bookshelf Conversations I did with them.

PRINT

  1. The Captain: A Memoir, by David Wright with Anthony DiComo (due Oct. 13)
  2. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
  3. Last Ride of the Iron Horse: How Lou Gehrig Fought ALS to Play One Final Championship Season, by Dan Joseph
  4. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
  5. Mind of a Superior Hitter: The Art, Science and Philosophy, by Michael McCree
  6. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
  7. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman
  8. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, by Brad Balukjian
  9. Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 42
  10. 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid, by Willie Mays and John Shea

E-BOOKS

  1. The Roger Angell Baseball Collection
  2. The Era, by Roger Kahn
  3. October 1964, by David Halberstam
  4. Moneyball
  5. Reversing The Curse, by Dan Shaugnessy
  6. Last Ride of the Iron Horse
  7. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee Jr.
  8. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
  9. The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series-and America’s Heart-During the Great Depression, by John Heidenry
  10. Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember, by John Feinstein

AUDIOBOOKS

Note: Amazon has changed the way they list audiobooks. No longer under the general category of “biography and memoir,” they are now treated in their own baseball/softball category. Here’s the general link to the section where you will find further links to the individual audiobooks, their reader/narrators, and samples. Note further that these are update regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

  1. Moneyball
  2. The MVP Machine
  3. Ball Four
  4. The Mental Game of Baseball
  5. Moneyball (Yes, again. Not a typo.)
  6. The Matheny Manifesto
  7. The Captain
  8. The Phenom
  9. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
  10. The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created

New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers. There are no baseball titles on their regular weekly list.

As I did last week, I should point out that Tom Callahan’s new book, Gods at Play: An Eyewitness Account of Great Moments in American Sports, was listed in the top ten for both print and e-books, but I do not consider that a “baseball” book for the purposes of these posts so I have omitted it (see above).

Nothing really new since last time, Roger Angell turned 100 last week so I’m surprised there aren’t more of his titles on these lists. That’s the guy I would really love to have for a Bookshelf Conversation, so if anyone can make that happen…

Still some good freebies available for the Kindle. Joining the current batch is my own Hank Greenberg bio (see below). Mixed feelings about this but…

And still not on the Amazon top-ten list? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 2,101,425, overall in books; last time, 1,976,423. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,209,293 (last time, 328,774).

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.

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Tagged as: Baseball Cards, Boston Red Sox, David Wright, Lou Gehrig, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Ted Williams, Willie Mays

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