Baseball Best-Sellers, May 2, 2025

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. The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com)
2. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments (hardcover), by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
3. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω (paperback)
4. Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America, by Will Bardenwerper (My review on Bookreporter.com)
5. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen (Paperback)
6. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and Tom Underwood
7. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole
8. Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir, by Bill Madden *
9. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
10. The Ultimate Baseball Trivia Challenge, by Hank Patton

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The Wingmen
2. Men at Work, by George F. Will
3. Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball — and America, by Tim Wendel
4. Seasons in Hell: With Billy Martin, Whitey Herzog and, “the Worst Baseball Team in History”—The 1973–1975 Texas Rangers, by Mike Shropshire

AUDIBLE

The links here will take you to the pages where you can hear samples.

1. The Baseball 100
2. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien (narrated by the author. My review on Bookreporter.com)
3. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
4. The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves, by Keith Law
5. The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
6. Ninety Percent Mental, by Bob Tewksbury (narrated by the author)
7. The Methany Manifesto, by Mike Methany with Jerry B. Jenkins
8. Yogi: A Life, by Jon Pessah
9. The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee, Jr.
10. The Last of His Kind: Clayton Kershaw and the Burden of Greatness, by Andy McCullough

Found a workaround for the lists but it means combing through all of Amazon’s 100 top baseball sellers and parsing out the Kindle and audio versions. Problem is once you weed out the romance novels, kids books, and others that I would normally exclude, there might not be enough for a “Top 10.” Case in point, only four relevant Kindle titles pop up on the list this week.

Other than that, veteran sportswriter Bill Madden presents his memoirs. My review on Bookreporter.com will appear tonight.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,784,153 overall in books; last time, 2,713,097.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,719,832; last time, 944,143.

A word about Greenberg: in this political climate, I wonder how many libraries have removed this one from their stacks, seeing as how it might be considered “woke.”

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: Bill Madden