Baseball Best-Sellers, April 14, 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. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list.

PRINT

1. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
2. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
3. Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time, by Ryan McGee
4. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
5. The Ballpark Bucket List: Take THIS Out to the Ballgame! – The Ultimate Scorecard for Visiting All 30 Major League Parks, by James Buckley *
6. The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, by Jeff Pearlman
7. Mind of a Superior Hitter, by Michael McCree
8. Heads-Up Baseball, by Tom Hanson
9. Baseball America Prospect Handbook
10. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry

KINDLE BOOKS

1. Moneyball
2. Welcome to the Circus of Baseball
3. The Baseball 100
4. Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
5. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments
6. How Baseball Happened
7. Winning Fixes Everything
8. The Hidden Game of Baseball
9. Baseball Prospectus 2023
10. Baseball’s Greatest What-Ifs

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. The Baseball 100
3. Winning Fixes Everything
4. Welcome to the Circus of Baseball
5. Ninety Percent Mental
6. Heads-Up Baseball 2.0
   
7. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
8. Heads-Up Baseball
9. I Never Had It Made
10. Moneyball (abridged, read by the author)

Another “bucket list” book for your library. See the Bookshelf review here.

I’ve read a few “what-if” books. Not for me. In the multi-verse, all variables are accounted for.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,804,264 overall in books; last time, 948,014. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,137,195; last time, 1,961,073.

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 dictionary; it has the other books in it. Which kind of reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

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.