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.
The Natural, by Bernard Malamud- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
- The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
- Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
- The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
- Fall from Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, by Tim Hornblower
- The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the … Put on a New York Uniform–and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman
- Mind of a Superior Hitter: The Art, Science and Philosophy, by Michael McCree
- Play by Play: Baseball, Radio and Life in the Last Chance League, by Neal Conan
- Till the End, by CC Sabathia and Chris Smith
E-BOOKS
- Eight Men Out, by Eliot Asinof
- Moneyball
- Homegrown: How the Red Sox Built a Champion from the Ground Up, by Alex Speier
- Fall from Grace
- Ball Four, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
- Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball, by Luke Epplin (My review on Bookreporter.com) *
- Summer Baseball Nation: Nine Days in the Wood Bat Leagues, by Will Geoghegan
- Driving Mr. Yogi, by Harvey Araton
- The Bad Guys Won
- The Natural
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.
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch
- Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
- Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask
- Fall from Grace
- Ninety Percent Mental
- Cheated
- The Last Hero
- House of Nails: A Memoir of Life on the Edge (Lenny Dykstra)
- Moneyball (abridged)
- One Tough Out (Rod Carew)
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.
No doubt, the appearance of Play by Play is due to the recent death of the author, Neal Conan, a long-time host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation. Other than that, the only surprise seems to be Fall from Grace on all three lists.
Still not in the Amazon top-ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 1,891,056 overall in books; last time, 1,486,912. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 779,850 (#93 in “Teen & Young Adult Baseball & Softball)”; last time, 1,571,401).
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.
is available on Amazon.com,
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