Baseball Best-Sellers, February 17, 2023

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. (See my piece on “Why Amazon’s search engine sucks.”)

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. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list.

PRINT

1. Baseball Prospectus 2023
2. Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Greatest Minds Creates Sport’s Biggest Mess, by Evan Drellich
3. The Fantasy Black Book 2023, by Joe Pisapia
4. Ron Shandler’s 2023 Baseball Forecaster
5. The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, by Jeff Pearlman
6. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
8. Tim McCarver’s Baseball for Brain Surgeons & Other Fans, by Tim McCarver with Danny Peary
9. Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2023 *
10. Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time, by Ken Ravizza and Tom Hanson

KINDLE BOOKS

1. 1. Winning Fixes Everything
   2. Tim McCarver’s Baseball for Brain Surgeons
   3. Baseball Prospectus 2023
   4. A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics
   5. Moneyball
   6. Ball Four 50th Anniversary Edition
   7. How Baseball Happened
   8. October 1964
   9. The Sputnik Season: 1957
   10. Baseball Forecaster

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. Winning Fixes Everything
2. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams
3. Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
4. The Baseball 100
5. Heads-Up Baseball
6. The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship
7. The Boys of Summer
8. Baseball (Ward and Burns)
9. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
10. The MVP Machine

Note: Once again, Amazon lists The Athletic Baseball 2023 Fantasy: Win Your League! in the top 10 on the print list, but as I consider it a magazine, and not a book, I’ve excluded it. Blog mea, praecepta mea.

As we get closer to the season, you will notice the emphasis on books that can help folks pout together their fantasy league teams.

Not especially surprised by the appearance of Tim McCarver’s book after his passing yesterday.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,721,775 overall in books; last time, 2,668,986. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,417,099; last time, 2,429,030. 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: Tim McCarver