Amazon keeps changing the way they report, so that will be mirrored here. Sometimes there will be rankings of Kindle and audio-books on baseball, other times, not.
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, almost always in the print version.
PRINT
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
- Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
- The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene (my Bookshelf review here)
- Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance, by Rob Friedman (coming March 24) *
- The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2026, by Joe Pisapia
- Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
- Ron Shandler’s 2026 Baseball Forecaster and Encyclopedia of Fanalytics (My Bookshelf Conversation with Shandler from 2015 here)
- The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
- Baseball Obscura 2026, by David J. Fleming
- Just Win This Pitch!: The Complete Mental Game System for High School and College Baseball, by Dr. Curt Ickes *
KINDLE
- Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
- Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen
- Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball, by Keith O’Brien Ω
- Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler
- The Night Casey Was Born: The True Story Behind the Great American Ballad “Casey at the Bat”, by John Evangelist Walsh
- Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, by Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler
AUDIO BOOKS
- The Baseball 100Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf, by Posnanski
- Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It, by Jane Leavy (narrated by the author)
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
- Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown
- Mickey & Billy: The Glory and Tragedy of a Yankee Friendship, by Tony Castro
- Baseball, by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (narrated by Burns)
- Our Team: The Epic Story of Four Men and the World Series that Changed Baseball, by Luke Epplin
- Summer of ’49, by David Halberstam
- The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players, by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchick
- Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy
Two books new to the Bookshelf crack the print top ten: Rob Friedman’s Unhittable and Curt Ickes’ “primer” on the game for school players.
Enough of a representation of Kindle and audio books to list them, even if they’re not an even ten. There were a lot more audio books in Amazon’s Top 100 baseball titles than usual. And once again, even though it’s technically not a book, Fantasy Baseball Index Book 2026, lists in the #1 print spot among BBS.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 283,131 in books overall (#11 in Literary Bibliographies & Indexes); last time, 3,302,103. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,662,951; last time, 3,576,181.
And that’s not a misprint, re: 501. Can’t remember the last time it was in the top 500,000 and that makes me even more curious as to how these rankings are determined.
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.
{ 0 comments }







PRINT


That is the question.


PRINT








