Baseball Best-Sellers, March 15, 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 (i.e., 12 and under). 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

Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski
Baseball Prospectus 2024
The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2024, by Joe Pisapia
Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide 2024: From Acuña to Zunino
Ron Shandler’s 2024 Baseball Forecaster and Encyclopedia of Fanalytics
The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker *
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker

KINDLE BOOKS

Baseball Prospectus 2024
The Wingmen
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch
So Many Ways to Lose: The Amazin’ True Story of the New York Mets—the Best Worst Team in Sports, by Devin Gordon
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy
Why We Love Baseball
The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created, by Jane Leavy
The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2024, by Joe Pisapia
Moneyball

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.

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)
Play Hungry: The Making of a Baseball Player, by Pete Rose
Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
Why We Love Baseball
The Baseball 100
Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (read by the author)
Heads-Up Baseball 2.0, by Tom Hanson
Gator: My Life in Pinstripes, by Ron Guidry (read by the author)
Banana Ball, by Jesse Kole with Don Yeager
The New York Game

Glad to see a new baseball book by Kevin Baker, who published Sometimes You See It Coming: A Novel, in 1993. Also greatly looking forward to a Bookshelf Conversation with him in the near future.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,296,639 overall in books; last time, 1,987,641. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,892,982; last time, 2,883,375.

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.