Baseball Best-Sellers, May 5, 2023

Happy Cinqo de Mayo, amigos.

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 to 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 the 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. Also no “adult” adult books (romance/erotic fiction that features baseball as a theme although goodness knows there are a bunch of those available).

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.

PRINT

1. The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Great Team in Pinstripe History, by Jack Curry
2. A Fan’s Guide to Baseball Analytics: Why WAR, WHIP, wOBA, and Other Advanced Sabermetrics Are Essential to Understanding Modern Baseball, by Anthony Castrovince
3. The Baseball 100, by Joe Posnanski
4. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
5. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
6. The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
7. The Mental Game of Baseball, by H.A. Dorfman
8. The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keene
9. The Ballpark Bucket List: Take THIS Out to the Ballgame! – The Ultimate Scorecard for Visiting All 30 Major League Parks, by James Buckley
10. The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, by Jeff Pearlman

KINDLE BOOKS

1. The 1998 Yankees
2. The Boys of Summer
3. David Halberstam on Sports
4. Moneyball
5. The Baseball 100
6. Winning Fixes Everything
7. When Baseball Went to War
8. Future Value: The Battle for Baseball’s Soul and How Teams Will Find the Next Superstar
9. Maris & Mantle: Two Yankees, Baseball Immortality, and the Age of Camelot
10. Out of My League: A Rookie’s Survival in the Bigs

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 1998 Yankees (read by the author)
2. Moneyball (unabridged, narrated by Scott Brick)
3. The Baseball 100
4. Ball Four: The Final Pitch
5. The Matheny Manifesto
6. A Damn Near Perfect Game
7. Winning Fixes Everything
8. Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty
9. Chipper Jones, Ballplayer
10. Swing and a Hit

Jack Curry’s 25th anniversary tribute to the 1998 Yankees wins the Bookshelf “Triple Crown” for finishing first in all three categories. I have a small problem with constant reference to 125 wins because that number includes post-season victories. If you’re going to do that, why not add spring training games to the total? Although it may technically be true, it’s not quite in the spirit of the usual regular season attribution. That’s like adding CS/DS/World Series home runs to a player’s regular season numbers. And don’t get me started on that; I don’t think it’s fair to lump the post-season together. Mickey Mantle held the record for most home runs in the World Series which, in his day, was the only post-season. Nowadays players have many more opportunities, which is why you see Manny Ramirez at the top of the list with 29. Bear in mind that Mantle achieved his in 273 plate appearances over 65 games, while Ramirez’s total was compiled in what was basically a full season of 111 games and 493 PA.) Just sayin’.

Curry — who narrated the audio version of his book — also serves in that capacity for Paul O’Neill’s Swing and a Hit.

Cloudbuster Nine returns to the list after several weeks away. I highly recommend When Baseball Went to War because I’m all about the veterans.

The David Halberstam entry is a collection of four of his books, including October 1964 and Summer of ’49. I omitted DIAMOND MIND: Inspiring Stories of Mental Toughness for Young Athletes: A Baseball Player’s Guide to Sports Psychology & Motivation for Kids and Coaches because of the intended audience, as is my wont.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 2,630,765 overall in books; last time, 2,426,109. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,056,333 (#55 in Teen & Young Adult Baseball & Softball); last time, 1,821,044.

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 kind of 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: New York Yankees