Baseball Best-Sellers, July 21, 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 (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 Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game, by Tim Brown with Eric Kratz
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
62: Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees, and the Pursuit of Greatness, by Bryan Hoch
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, by Jeff Pearlman
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Posnanski (pre-sale; available Sept. 5) *

KINDLE BOOKS

The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, by Keith Law
Tao of the Backup Catcher
K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
Moneyball
Ball Four: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, by Jim Bouton
The Baseball 100
The Boys of Summer: The Classic Narrative of Growing Up Within Shouting Distance of Ebbets Field, Covering the Jackie Robinson Dodgers, and What’s Happened to Everybody Since, by Roger Kahn
Welcome to the Circus of Baseball: A Story of the Perfect Summer at the Perfect Ballpark at the Perfect Time, by Ryan McGee
Davey Johnson: My Wild Ride in Baseball and Beyond, by Davey Johnson with Erik Sherman
Minor League Baseball Revealed: A Secret Tour Inside Our National Pastime, by Rick Sherman

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.

Tao of the Backup Catcher
Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
The Baseball 100
Heads-Up Baseball, by Ken Ravizza
Ball Four: The Final Pitch , by Jim Bouton (read by the author)
Calico Joe, by John Grisham
The Bad Guys Won, by Jeff Pearlman (narrated by the author)
The Chicken Runs at Midnight: A Daughter’s Message from Heaven That Changed a Father’s Heart and Won a World Series, by Tom Friend
Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (read by the author)
62

Other than the appearance of Joe Posnanski’s latest — not available until September — on the print list, there’s nothing really new this week. I’m wondering if the fact that The Wall Street Journal ran a review of The Tao of the Backup Catcher has anything to do with its placement atop the list. I normally would post the link here but the paper has a paywall.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,549,970 overall in books; last time, 342,955. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,003,330; last time, 1,737,987.

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.