Baseball Best-Sellers, July 5, 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. And a Ω (omega) means it’s an award winner.

PRINT

1. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
2. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
3. The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, by Kevin Baker (My review on Bookreporter.com)
4. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien (My review on Bookreporter.com)
5. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
6. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
7. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
8. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
9. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski Ω
10. Moon Baseball Road Trips: The Complete Guide to All the Ballparks, with Beer, Bites, and Sights Nearby, by Timothy Malcom

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Wingmen
2. The Last Innocents: The Collision of the Turbulent Sixties and the Los Angeles Dodgers, by Michael Leahy Ω
3. Wait Til Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
4. The Glory of Their Times, by Lawrence Ritter Ω
5. The New York Game
6. Fifty-Nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, & the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, by Edward Achorn
7. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever, by Jack Curry
8. Charlie Hustle
9. Moneyball
10. 24

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. Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball’s Brightest Minds Created Sports Greatest Mess, by Evan Drelich
2. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
3. Charlie Hustle
4. The Baseball 100
5. Why We Love Baseball
6. The Yankee Way, by Andy Martino
7. The New York Game
8. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
9. Wait Till Next Year
10. The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness, by Andy McCullough

Makes perfect sense now that the summer is upon us that a book like Baseball Road Trips appears on the list.

Micheal Leahy’s Last Innocents — winner of the 2016 Casey Award from Spitball Magazine — remains one of the best books I’ve ever read, period.

I was going to rail against Curry’s title, and less so Achorn’s, because in books like the former, there should be some sort of asterisk designating “to date” because there’s the possibility that some team can come along and have a better season. In the latter, however, I doubt at this point any pitcher will do better than Old Hoss. Now, when it comes to McCullough, I’m leaning towards agreement that Kershaw might just be the “last of his kind.”

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,962,993 overall in books; last time, 2,967,939.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,869,466; last time, 2,836,636.

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.