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 (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
- Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of The Savannah Bananas *
- The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
- Sports Illustrated The New York Mets: Celebrating Six Decades of Amazin’ Baseball *
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
- Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge, by Karl Kuehl et al
- The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
- The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
- The Yogi Book, by Yogi Berra
- Heads-Up Baseball, by Tom Hanson
- The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
KINDLE BOOKS
- The Boys of Summer
- The 1998 Yankees
- David Halberstam on Sports
- The Black and White of Baseball: Overcoming Bias in Baseball and Life
- Banana Ball
- Moneyball
- The Baseball 100
- Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask
- Winning Fixes Everything
- Maris & Mantle: Two Yankees, Baseball Immortality, and the Age of Camelot
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.
- Banana Ball
- The 1998 Yankees (read by the author)
- Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
- Winning Fixes Everything
- The Baseball 100
- Wait Till Next Year
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch
- Heads-Up Baseball
- The Bad Guys Won
- Welcome to the Circus of Baseball
I don’t know of you would consider it baseball. Maybe it’s an age thing, but I do not: the Savannah Bananas are definitely entertaining, but baseball? This seems like something Jim Bouton might dream up. Or The Veecks.
The new Mets book looks glorious, and just what you would expect from the people at Sports Illustrated.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 653,979 (#62 in Literary Bibliographies & Indexes) overall in books; last time, 2,742,610. Yikes! Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,940,187; last time, 1,684,370.
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.
is available on Amazon.com,
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