Baseball Best-Sellers, February 9, 2024

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 Amazon’s 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. Ron Shandler’s 2024 Baseball Forecaster and Encyclopedia of Fanalytics
3. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
4. The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2024, by Joe Pisapia
5. The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness, by Andy McCullough (pre-sale, release date May 7)
6. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
8. Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide 2024: From Acuña to Zunino
9. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
10. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Wingmen
2. The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy
3. Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy
4. Ball Four: 50th Anniversary Edition, by Jim Bouton
5. Moneyball
6. Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero, by Jeff Perlman
7. The Bad Guys Won, by Jeff Pearlman
8. Why We Love Baseball
9. Fenway 1912: The Birth of a Ballpark, a Championship Season, and Fenway’s Remarkable First Year, by Glenn Stout
10. Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch

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. Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball, by Keith Law
3. The Arm, by Jeff Passan
4. Why We Love Baseball
5. The Last of His Kind
6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
7. The Baseball 100
8. The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
9. Ballplayer, by Chipper Jones
10. The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit, by Ron Shelton (narrated by the author)

Double duty on the Kindle list for Jane Leavy and Jeff Perlman; funny you don’t hear much about his bonds bio as his other books. Meanwhile, the Kershaw bio merits a “triple crown.”

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,918,343 overall in books; last time, 955,716.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,785,238; last time, 2,716,446.

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.

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.