Baseball Best-Sellers, December 20, 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.

The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II, by Anne R. Keen (Paperback)
The Ultimate New York Yankees Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Yankees Fans!, by Ray Walker
Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski Ω (My review on Bookreporter.com)
The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams, by Adam Lazarus
The Ultimate Boston Red Sox Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard BoSox Fans!, by Walker
The Ultimate New York Mets Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Mets Fans!, by Walker
The Ultimate Los Angeles Dodgers Trivia Book: A Collection of Amazing Trivia Quizzes and Fun Facts for Die-Hard Dodgers Fans!, by Walker
On Top of the World: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Extraordinary Run to the 2024 World Series, by the Los Angeles Daily News
Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas, by Jesse Cole and Don Yeager
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)

KINDLE BOOKS

The Wingmen
Baseball, The Movie, by Noah Gittell
Why We Love Baseball
Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Individual, by Howard Bryant
The New York Game, by Kevin Baker
Charlie Hustle
Moneyball, by Michael Lewis
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton
Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, by Dan Epstein
The Machine, by Posnanski

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.

Moneyball (unabridged, read by Scott Brick)
The Baseball 100
Charlie Hustle
Why We Love Baseball
The New York Game
Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter, by Ian O’Connor
The Yankee Way, by Andy Martino
Banana Ball
Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Like last year, the trivia books lead the way in the print list. Where is your imagination, everyone?

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 1,389,453 (#95 in Literary Bibliographies & Indexes); last time, 1,916,593 overall in books. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 3,477,867 ; last time, 3,402,583.

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.