Baseball Best-Sellers, October 21, 2022

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 Grandest Stage: A History of The World Series, by Tyler Kepner
2. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
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. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
5. Ground Crew Confidential, by Austin Gisriel
6. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
7. Beckett Baseball Card Price Guide 2022
8. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
9. Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time, by Tom Hanson
10. Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Grandest Stage
2. Moneyball
3. 24: Life Lessons and Stories from the Say Hey Kid
4. Ball Four: 50th Anniversary Edition
5. The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship
6. October 1964
7. The Baseball 100
8. Ground Crew Confidential
9. The Era: 1947-1957
10. Warren Spahn: A Biography of the Legendary Lefty

AUDIBLE

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. Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
2. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
3. The Grandest Stage
4. Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time
5. The Baseball 100
6. The Mental Game of Baseball
7. The Church of Baseball
8. Playing Through the Pain
9. Rickey
10. Ninety Percent Mental

I interviewed Ron Shelton yesterday and his reading his own book came up, so interested in hearing that. Look for our “Bookshelf Conversation” next week.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,504,068 overall in books; last time, 2,283,593. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,612,275; last time, 1,381,890. Still only $1.99 for the Kindle version.

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.

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.