Baseball Bestsellers, September 10, 2021

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.

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1. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
2. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
3. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
4. 11 in ’11: A Hometown Hero, La Russa’s Last Ride in Red, and a Miracle World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals, by Benjamin Hochman
5. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
6. Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
7. The Natural, by Bernard Malamud
8. Till the End, by CC Sabathia and Chris Smith
9. The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife, by Brad Balukjian *
10. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker

E-BOOKS

1. 1. Playing with the Enemy, by Gary Moore
   2. Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball — and America — Forever, by Tim Wendel
   3. Moneyball
   4. The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball’s Golden Age, by Robert Weintraub
   5. How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed, by Thomas W. Gilbert
   6. The Last Real Season, by Mike Shropshire
   7. Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play, by Bill White with Gordon Dillow
   8. 1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever, by Bill Madden
   9. Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series That Changed Baseball, by Luke Epplin (My review on Bookreporter.com) *
   10. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter

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. Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask, by Jon Pessah
2. Moneyball  (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
3. Swing Kings, by Jared Diamond
4. The Mental Game of Baseball, by H.A. Dorfman
5. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
6. The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor
7. COVID Curveball: An Inside Look at the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers, by Tim Neverett
8. Heads-Up Baseball : Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time, by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson
9. Till the End
10. Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen

Surprised that there aren’t more Jeter books, considering he was just inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Still not in the Amazon top-ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 2,277,001 overall in books; last time, 2,085,213. I think I’ll stop these updates if it sinks below three million; that’s just too depressing. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,788,044; last time, 1,741,140).

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.