Baseball Best-Sellers, December 15, 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

KINDLE BOOKS

The Wingmen
The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
Why We Love Baseball
The Baseball 100
Moneyball
They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers, by Jason Turbow
Intentional Balk: Baseball’s Thin Line Between Innovation and Cheating, by Mark Armour and Daniel Levitt
Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s, by Jason Turbow
“Yogi Was Up with a Guy on Third. . .”: Hall of Famers Recall Their Favorite Baseball Games Ever, by Maureen Mullen
Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of The Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole with Don Yaeger

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.

Why We Love Baseball
Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
The Baseball 100
The Bad Guys Won, by Jeff Pearlman (read by the author)
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig (narrated by Edward Herrmann who played Gehrig in the TV movie, A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story)
So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports, by Devin Gordon
The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy
Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life, by Micheal Lewis (read by the author)
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (read by the author)

Again, nothing really new. And just FYI, the next three books on the print list are also trivia by Ray Walker for the Cardinals, Mets, and Orioles. The rich get richer.

Looking over the list I realize: I’ve chatted with a lot of these authors.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,821,034 in Books overall in books; last time, 2,478,920. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,743,488 in Books in Books; last time, 1,101,137.

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.