Baseball Best-Sellers, December 13, 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.

1. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
2. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen (Paperback)
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. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
5. The Ultimate New York Mets Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Mets Fans!, by Walker
6. 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)
7. The Ultimate Los Angeles Dodgers Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Dodgers Fans!, by Walker
8. Ballparks: A Journey Through the Fields of the Past, Present, and Future, by Eric Enders
9. The Ultimate Philadelphia Phillies Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Phillies Fans!, by Walker
10. The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard BoSox Fans!, by Walker

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Wingmen
2. Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, by Dan Epstein
3. The New York Game, by Kevin Baker
4. Why We Love Baseball
5. Moneyball, by Michael Lewis
6. The Franchise: Atlantic Braves, by Mark Bowman
7. Sho-Time: The Inside Story of Shohei Ohtani and the Greatest Baseball Season Ever Played, by Jeff Fletcher
8. Charlie Hustle
9. Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, by Doug Bird
10. Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Chicago Cubs and the Dawn of Modern America, by David Rapp

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, read by Scott Brick)
2. The Baseball 100
3. Charlie Hustle
4. The New York Game
5. Why We Love Baseball
6. The Yankee Way, by Andy Martino
7. The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
8. Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (narrated by the author)
9. Banana Ball, by Jesse Cole
10. Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Ho-hum. Nothing has moved for the first five spots in the print list from last week. And now we’re heading into the time of year when Walker’s trivia books dominate.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,916,593; last time, 668,598 overall in books (#47 in Literary Bibliographies & Indexes).  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,402,583 ; last time, 3,300,198.

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.