Baseball Best-Sellers, December 1, 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 in 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 out there).

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. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski
2. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
3. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
4. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
5. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
6. The Ultimate Atlanta Braves Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Braves Fans!, by Ray Walker
7. The Ultimate Chicago Cubs Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Cubs Fans!, by Ray Walker
8. Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
9. The Ultimate Philadelphia Phillies Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Phillies Fans!, by Ray Walker
10. The Ballpark Bucket List: Take THIS Out to the Ballgame! – The Ultimate Scorecard for Visiting All 30 Major League Parks, by James Buckley

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Wingmen
2. Why We Love Baseball
3. You Gotta Have Wa, by Robert Whiting
4. The Baseball 100
5. Moneyball
6. Al Kaline: The Biography of a Tigers Icon, by Jim Hawkins
7. The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game, by Tim Brown with Eric Kratz (My review on Bookreporter here.)
8. Black and Blue: Sandy Koufax, the Robinson Boys, and the World Series That Stunned America, by Tom Adelman
9. Davey Johnson: My Wild Ride in Baseball and Beyond, by Johnson and Erik Sherman
10. Battle of the Bay: Bashing A’s, Thrilling Giants, and the Earthquake World Series, by Tom Peterson

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 Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
3. Summer of ’49, by David Halberstam
4. Why We Love Baseball
5. The Bad Guys Won, by Jeff Pearlman (read by the author)
6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (read by the author)
7. Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen
8. Fall From Grace: The Truth and Tragedy of “Shoeless Joe”Jackson, by Tim, Hornbaker
9. The Baseball 100
10. Sports Illustrated Great Baseball Writing

Just for fun, I went back one year to the BBS for December 2, 2022. Sure enough, Ray Walker’s trivia books occupied five of the top ten spots.

A new feature: from time to time, I’m going to list the top ten in a specific sub-category of baseball books. This week: baseball biographies.

1. 1. The Wingmen (Hardcover)
   2. The Baseball 100
   3. The Wingmen (Kindle)
   4. The Yogi Book
   5. The 1998 Yankees
   6. The Ultimate St. Louis Cardinals Trivia Book
   7. The Tao of the Backup Catcher
   8. The Ultimate Los Angeles Dodgers Trivia Book
   9. The Ultimate Houston Astros Trivia Book
   10. The Ultimate Baltimore Orioles Trivia Book

As you can see, these are not all what one would classify as “biographies.” Typical Amazon askew algorithm.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,019,278 overall in books; last time, 979,703. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,889,003; last time, 2,794,511.

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 reminds me of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite shows.

NOTE: A new edition of 501 is on the way. Stay tuned for details!

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.