Baseball Best-Sellers, November 6, 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…

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
2. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
3. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman
4. Bill James Handbook 2021
5. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
6. How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed, by Thomas W. Gilbert
7. The National Baseball Hall of Fame Collection: Celebrating the Game’s Greatest Players, by James Buckley
8. Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 42
9. Wait Till Next Year – A Memoir, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
10. True Blue: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Unforgettable 2020 World Series Season, published by The Los Angeles Times

E-BOOKS

1. Moneyball
2. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
3. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
4. Chumps to Champs, By Bill Pennington
5. Black and Blue: Sandy Koufax, the Robinson Boys, and the World Series That Stunned America, by Tom Adelman
6. Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella
7. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee Jr.
8. Baseball Playbook, by Ron Polk
9. The Captain
10. Baseball Maverick: How Sandy Alderson Revolutionized Baseball and Revived the Mets, by Steve Kettman

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 updated regularly and the top ten list below might no longer be the same.

1. Yogi
2. Moneyball
3. Ball Four
4. Moneyball (yes, again; not a typo)
5. Stealing Home
6. Ninety Percent Mental
7. Heads-Up Baseball 2.0
8. The Captain
9. Smart Baseball
10. Teammate: My Journey Through Baseball and A World Series for the Ages

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

Well that didn’t take long: already one of those newspaper-driven books about the World Series. Nice keepsake for the fans/money-grab for the L.A. Times. Steve Kettman’s book on Alderson coincides with the rehiring of the legendary baseball executive by the Mets’ new ownership. Click on the link for my Bookshelf Conversation with the author. For the first time in recent memory The Art of Hitting did not make the top ten, although Ted Williams is represented by Cloudbuster. And once again, the coming of November means not just Thanksgiving, but the latest edition of the James Handbook. Is it a slimmer model because of a slimmer season?

Still not in the Amazon top-ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 1,479,918, overall in books; last time, 1,788,611. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,546,972 (last time, 1,479,918).

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, David Wright, Los Angeles Dodgers, Moneyball, New York Mets, Ted Williams