Baseball Best-Sellers, October 24, 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 had with them. An asterisk denotes a book making its debut on the BBS list. And a “Ω” means it’s an award winner.

PRINT

1. Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It, by Jane Leavy (My review on Bookreporter.com)
2. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (My review on Bookreporter.com)
3. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen (Paperback; my review here)
4. Starting and Closing: Perseverance, Faith, and One More Year, John Smoltz with Don Yeager
5. The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com)
6. The Ultimate Baseball Trivia Challenge, by Hank Patton
7. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
8. Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton
9. The Bad Guys Won: A Season of Brawling, Boozing, Bimbo Chasing, and Championship Baseball with Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid, and the Rest of the 1986 Mets, the Rowdiest Team Ever to Put on a New York Uniform–and Maybe the Best, by Jeff Pearlman
10. Wait Till Next Year: A Memoir, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

KINDLE

1. Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole
2. I Never Had it Made, by Jackie Robinson and Alfred Duckett
3. The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
4. Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien
5. Men At Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will
6. 1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Era, by David Krell
7. The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923, by Robert Weintraub
8. It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s,by Doug Kurkul
9. Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir, by Bill Madden
10. How Baseball Happened: Outrageous Lies Exposed! The True Story Revealed, by Thomas W. Gilbert

AUDIOBOOKS

1. The Baseball 100, by Posnanski
2. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
3. K: A History of Baseball in 10 Pitches, by Tyler Kepner (narrated by the author)
4. 72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee, by Lee (narrated by the author)
5. Baseball Mastery Series All 10 Books in a Single Volume Mastering Every Position and Aspect of Baseball: A Comprehensive Guide to Excellence on the Diamond, by Sky Benson *
6. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told, by Jeff Silverman
7. Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life In the Minor Leagues of Baseball, by John Feinstein (narrated by the author)
8. The Teammates: A Portrait of a Friendship, by David Halberstam
9. The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, by Nicholas Dawidoff
10. Calico Joe, by John Grisham

For the first time in a long time I was able to cobble together full lists for each category. Yippee.

In addition to his books on the BBS list, Joe Posnanski also wrote the documentary, Who Killed the Montreal Expos, now on Netflix.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,288,962 overall (#27 in Literary Bibliographies and Indexes); last time, 1,865,098.  Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 2,591,528; last time, 2,250,487.

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.

BUT…

Some exciting news (now we’ll see who’s paying attention and reading down this far).

Necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to emergency surgery in which I said goodbye to a recalcitrant gallbladder, I have a couple off months for recuperation during which time I will be working on a revision of 501.

The new version will include all the original stuff but as you know if you’re a baseball reading fool, there have been a lot of great books published since 501 came out a dozen years ago. So since this isn’t a ranking where one title might be pushed off the list, the new material will appear as an added chapter.

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.