Baseball Best-Sellers, November 11, 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” adult books (no romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those available).

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 Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
4. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
5. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
6. Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. The Bill James Handbook 2023
8. A Game of Extremes: 25 Exceptional Baseball Stories about What Happened on and off the Field , by Roy Lingster
9. The Baseball Book of Why: The Answers to Questions You’ve Always Wondered about from America’s National Pastime, by John McCollister
10. Mind of a Superior Hitter: The Art, Science and Philosophy, by Michael McCree

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Grandest Stage
2. Fall From Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe”Jackson, by Tim Hornbaker
3. The Baseball 100
4. Moneyball
5. Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask, by Jon Pessah *
6. Crack of the Bat: The Louisville Slugger Story, by Bob Hill
7. October 1964, by David Halberstam
8. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee, Jr.
9. A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone, by Roger Angell
10. Jackie Robinson and Race in America, by Thomas Zeiler

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. Chipper Jones, Ballplayer
2. Play Hungry: The Making of a Baseball Player
3. Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
4. The Baseball 100
5. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original
6. Wait Till Next Year
7. The Bad Guys Won
8. Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry, by Joan Ryan
9. Ninety Percent Mental
10. Ball Four: The Final Pitch

So it begins: the slew of handbooks for the 2023 book season. I used to grab up all of these I could: Bill James, The Hardball Times, Baseball Prospectus, et al. Now time and space have started to put a limit on such reading. People keep track of all sorts of stats. I wonder if this is the shortest time between the last game of the World Series and the release of a “2023” title.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,697,545 overall in books; last time, 1,257,278. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,094,625; last time, 1,976,282. 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.

Tagged as: Moneyball, Rickey Henderson, World Series