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
- The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
- The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
- Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of The Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole with Don Yaeger
- The Franchise: New York Yankees: A Curated History of the Bronx Bombers, by Mark Feinsand
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
- The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
- The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
- Baseball Field Guide, Fourth Edition: An In-Depth Illustrated Guide to the Complete Rules of Baseball, by Dan Formosa and Paul Hamburger
- Mental Toughness: Baseball’s Winning Edge, by Karl Kuehl et al
- Sports Illustrated The New York Mets: Celebrating Six Decades of Amazin’ Baseball
KINDLE BOOKS
- The Franchise: The New York Yankees
- The 1998 Yankees
- David Halberstam on Sports
- The Boys of Summer
- Moneyball
- October 1964
- The Baseball 100
- Maris & Mantle: Two Yankees, Baseball Immortality, and the Age of Camelot
- The Greatest Summer in Baseball History: How the ’73 Season Changed Us Forever
- Wait Till Next Year
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.
- Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
- The Baseball 100
- The 1998 Yankees (read by the author)
- Banana Ball
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch
- Heads-Up Baseball
- The MVP Machine
- Welcome to the Circus of Baseball
- Ninety Percent Mental
- Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Original
Not much new to report except the return of Feinsand’s curated history of the Yankees.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,676,003 overall in books; last time, 2,742,610. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,139,174; last time, 1,940,187.
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.
Happy holiday, folks. Be safe out there.
is available on Amazon.com,
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