Baseball Best-Sellers, December 10, 2021

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. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
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. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
4. The Ultimate Atlanta Braves Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Braves Fans!, by Ray Walker
5. Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
6. The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard BoSox Fans!, by Ray Walker
7. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Michael Silverman
8. The Ultimate St. Louis Cardinals Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Cardinals Fans!, by Ray Walker
9. Against All Odds: The Atlanta Braves’ Improbable Journey to the 2021 World Series, by the Atlanta Journal Constitution
10. The Ultimate Chicago Cubs Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Cubs Fans!, by Ray Walker

E-BOOKS

1. Moneyball
2. Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series, by David Pietrusza
3. The Baseball 100
4. Lessons in Life I Learned from My Baseball Cards, by Patrick J. Caraher
5. Ball Four: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
6. The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America, by Joe Posnanski
7. Valentine’s Way, by Bobby Valentine and Peter Golenbock
8. The Cloudbuster Nine
9. Doc: A Memoir, by Dwight Gooden and Ellis Henican
10. Trading Bases, by Joe Peta

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. The Baseball 100
2. Moneyball  (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
3. The Bad Guys Won, by Jeff Perlman
4. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton and Leonard Shecter
5. Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury
6. Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen
7. The Baseball Codes, by Jason Turbow
8. The Mental Game of Baseball, by H.A. Dorfman
9. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
10. Moneyball  (Abridged)

No baseball titles on the New York Times‘ list but a recent piece lists Lincoln Mitchell’s first novel — The Body Scout — in a piece about new and noteworthy sci-fi/fantasy books. According to the article, it

blends noir, cyberpunk and sports into something at once timeless and original. In an unsettlingly near-future New York where extreme climate change has made cybernetic limbs and genetic modifications — called “upgrades” — necessary and commonplace, steep income inequality and horrifying medical debt are ever more prevalent. But the book’s not really about those things. First and foremost, it’s about baseball.

You can read the rest here.

Nothing new to report, just a realignment of rankings. Kind of surprising, given the latest Hall of Fame inductees (several good books about all of them, including Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva, and Bud Fowler). This probably accounts for the O’Neil bio by Posnanski.

A rare week which sees Moneyball absent from the print list, although it does top the e-books. Bobby Valentine’s new memoir appears on the e-book list but can’t pass muster to break Ray Walker’s “trivial” dominance. Look for my review on Bookreporter.com later today. And if we were to open things up, there are amazing number of romance novels here, relative to titles about the real thing.

Still not in the Amazon top-ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, right now it ranks at 2,423,428 overall in books; last time, 2,156,383. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,979,059; last time, 1,893,277. By the way, I am “proud” to announce that after just four and a half years, I have finally earned some royalties for Greenberg (although still not 501), but unfortunately not enough to meet the minimum in order for the publisher to cut me a check.

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.