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
- The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker
- Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
- Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski
- The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
- The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
- 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 Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
- Wait Till Next Year, buy Doris Kearns Goodwin
- My Mets Bible: Scoring 30 Years of Baseball Fandom, by Evan Roberts
KINDLE BOOKS
- The New York Game
- Charlie Hustle
- Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend
- The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers
- The Wingmen
- Why We Love Baseball
- Wait Till Next Year
- The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty: The Game, the Team, and the Cost of Greatness
- Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
- Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero
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.
- Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
- Charlie Hustle
- Why We Love Baseball
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
- The Baseball 100
- The Boys of Summer
- The New York Game
- The Arm
- The Methany Manifesto
- Wait Till Next Year
The top four print spots are unchanged from last week’s post.
I wonder how much a review in The New York Times does for book sales? Baker’s New York Game appeared in last Sunday’s book supplement. I attribute The Bots of Summer and Wait Till Next Year to the passing of “Oisk,” aka Carl Erskine, the last remaining Brooklyn Dodger of that era. He passed away earlier this week at the age of 97.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,491,513 overall in books; last time, 2,242,426. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,918,297; last time, 2,915,785.
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.