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.
- The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner, by Mike Vaccaro
- Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People’s Team, by A.M., Glittzlitz
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis Ω
- Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance, by Rob Friedman
- Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game, by John Sexton
- 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)
- Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life, by Dusty Baker *
- Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments, by Joe Posnanski (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
- The Baseball 100, by Posnanski
- The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball, by John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω
KINDLE
- How Retrosheet Saved Baseball, by Jay Wigley
- Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, by George F. Will
- The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobbleheads, Cracker Jacks, Jockstraps, Eye Black, and 375 Other Strange and Unforgettable Objects, by Steve Rushin
- It’s a Beautiful Day for Baseball: The National Pastime in the 1960s, by Doug Kurkul
AUDIO BOOKS
- Ball Four: The Final Pitch, by Jim Bouton
- 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 (narrated by the author)
- Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America, by Howard Bryant
- The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn
- Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, by Charles Leerhsen
- 72 Stories: From the Baseball Collection of Geddy Lee, by Lee (narrated by the author)
- Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler
- The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life, by Mike Matheny
- Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton and Tim Keown
- The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg, by Nicholas Dawidoff
I attribute the inclusion of Sexton’s 2013 book to the debut of a new documentary, Baseball: Beyond Belief. I wonder if some people got the title confused with Josh Hamilton’s memoir. Here’s a sort of “Bookshelf Conversation” I had with Sexton while I was with the New Jersey Jewish News. Haven’t had the chance to talk with Hamilton yet.
Also new to the BBL, Dusty Baker’s overdue memoir.
Steve Rushin’s book — also originally published in 2013 — brings to mind this piece from MLB.com on “Each team’s best promotional giveaway in 2026.”
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.
Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. FYI, as of this posting it ranks 3,145,947 in books overall; last time, 2,991,092. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 1,943,075; last time, 871,386.
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.