Baseball Best-Sellers, October 25, 2024

A reminder: The Amazona 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 Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
4. Daybreak at Chavez Ravine: Fernandomania and the Remaking of the Los Angeles Dodgers, by Erik Sherman
5. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen
6. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski Ω
7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
8. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
9. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
10. Shohei Ohtani: The Amazing Story of Baseball’s Two-Way Japanese Superstar, by Jay Paris

KINDLE BOOKS

1. Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life, by Richard Ben Cramer
2. Fifty-Nine in ’84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, & the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, by Edward Achorn
3. The Wingmen
4. Sports Illustrated The World Series: A History of the Fall Classic from the Pages of Sports Illustrated
5. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan
6. Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig, by Jonathan Eig
7. Moneyball
8. Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
9. K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, by Tyler Kepner
10. Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

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. The Betrayal : The 1919 World Series and the Birth of Modern Baseball, by Charles Fountain
2. Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
3. The Baseball 100
4. Why We Love Baseball
5. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
6. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
7. The Boys of Summer
8. The Arm
9. Wait Til Next Year
10. The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci

Once again, the death of a baseball superstar brings a book back to the lists. Before it was Pete Rose. Now it’s Fernando Valenzuela. Also, the World Series brings new attention to an older title.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,969,340 overall in books; last time, 2,809,173.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,065,106; last time, 3,058,475.

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.

Tagged as: Fernando Valenzuela, World Series