Baseball Best-Sellers, June 25, 2021

What a strange trip it’s been. 

As most of you know by now, I was in a rather serious car accident during the Memorial Day Weekend, returning home last week after three weeks in hospital/rehab. Three broken bones in my dominant are makes it difficult to type, but it’s part of my physical therapy so i can think of no better way to get back to business than with a BBS post.

New: An asterisk serves to let you know that the author is a member of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club. I enthusiastically recommend you visit the site, sign up for their newsletter, and buy some merch.

A reminder: 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 posting them). 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, The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect has appeared on the BBS list. “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 “adult” books here, that is, no romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme either (although goodness knows there are a bunch of those).

So, with all that said…

The links under the authors’ names will take you to the Bookshelf Conversations I did with them. The asterisk denotes the author is a “member” of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club.

PRINT

1. Cheated: The Inside Story of the Astros Scandal and a Colorful History of Sign Stealing, by Andy Martino
2. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
3. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
4. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
5. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
6. Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby, by Timothy Malcolm
7. Till the End, by CC Sabathia and Chris Smith (coming July 6)
8. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
9. Mind of a Superior Hitter: The Art, Science and Philosophy, by Michael McCree
10. Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball, by Luke Epplin (My review on Bookreporter.com) *

E-BOOKS

1. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
2. Cheated
3. Baseball Field Guide: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball, by Dan Formosa
4. October 1964, by David Halberstam
5. Moneyball
6. Doc: A Memoir, by Dwight Gooden with Ellis Henican
7. Lou: Fifty Years of Kicking Dirt, Playing Hard, and Winning Big in the Sweet Spot of Baseball, by Lou Pinella and Bill Madden
8. Our Team
9. Till the End
10. So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets―the Best Worst Team in Sports, by Devin Gordon (My review on Bookreporter.com)

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 titles, 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. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
2. Moneyball  (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
3. Cheated
4. Ninety Percent Mental
5. The MVP Machine
6. The Matheny Manifesto
7. The Bronx Zoo
8. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told
9. The Mental Game of Baseball
10. Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask

The New York Times no longer offers a monthly list of sports best-sellers. There are no baseball titles on their latest nonfiction hardcover weekly posting.

Surprisingly little has changed in a month. Wondering if the popularity of Cheated has anything to do with the new MLB policy of checking pitchers for tacky material.

Still not in the Amazon top-ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 1,723,605 overall in books; last time, 626,336. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,353,095; last time, 325,639).

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.

Now we’ll see who pays attention. Removing the “Super shameless self-promotion” section. Look for some exciting news in the near future.

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 my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.