Baseball Bestsellers, February 20, 2026 – Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf

Amazon continues to change the way they report, so that’s reflected here. Sometimes there are Kindle rankings and audiobooks on baseball, other times there are not.

As a reminder, Amazon’s rankings are updated hourly, so these lists may 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”).

Plus, every now and then, the powers that be try to pull a fast one by including a book in a category where (in my opinion) it shouldn’t be listed. 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 may be a hint of a national pastime in there, 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). No “adult” books for adults either (baseball-themed romance/erotic fiction, although God knows there are a lot of those out there).

So, with all that has been said…

The links below the authors’ names will take you to the bookshelf conversations I’ve had with them. An asterisk indicates a book making its debut on the BBS list. And an “Ω” means it is an award winner.

PRINT

1. Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster and Encyclopedia of Fanalytics 2026 (My 2015 bookshelf conversation with Shandler here)
2. Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in Americaby Howard Bryant
3. The Wingmen: the unlikely, unusual, unbreakable friendship between John Glenn and Ted Williamsby Adam Lazarus
4. The Fantasy Baseball Black Book 2026by Joe Pisapia
5. Baseball Obscura 2026by David J. Fleming
6. The Cloudbuster Nine: The untold story of Ted Williams and the baseball team that helped win World War IIby Anne R. Keen (my bookshelf review here)
7. 1978: Baseball and America in the Disco Eraby David Krell
8. Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Momentsby Joe Posnanski (we review on Bookreporter.com) Oh
9. The Baseball 100by Posnanski Ω
10. The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Cheated, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseballby John W. Miller. (My review on Bookreporter.com) Ω

KINDEL

1. It’s a beautiful day for baseball: the national pastime of the 1960sby Doug Kurkul
2. Season ticketby Roger Angell
3. Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Geniusby Bill Pennington
4. The Codes of Baseball: Bean Balls, Sign Stealing, and Couch Cleaning Fights: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastimeby Jason Turbow
5. Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of ’76by Dan Epstein
6. The Heyday of Willie, Duke and Mickey: The Golden Age of New York City Baseball Amid Integrationby Robert C. Cottrell

AUDIO BOOKS

1. Moneyballby Michael Lewis (narrated by Scott Brick)
2. Ball Four: The last throwby Jim Bouton (narrated by the author)
3. The Bad Guys Won: A season of brawling, drinking, bimbo chasing and championship baseball featuring Straw, Doc, Mookie, Nails, the Kid and the rest of the 1986 Mets, the most violent team to ever put on a New York uniform – and perhaps the bestby Jeff Pearlman (narrated by the author)
4. The Matheny Manifesto: A young manager’s old-fashioned view of success in sport and lifeby Mike Matheny
5. Ninety Percent Mental: An All-Star Player Turned Mental Skills Coach Reveals the Hidden Game of Baseballby Bob Tewksbury (narrated by the author)
6. Summer of ’49by David Halberstam
7. Sandy Koufax: The Legacy of a Leftistby Jane Leavey
8. Fenway Punk: How a Boston indie label scored big on baseball’s greatest rivalryby Chris Wrenn
9. Rickey: The Life and Legend of an American Originalby Howard Bryant
10. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhoodby Jane Leavy (narrated by the author)

Enough views of Kindle and audiobooks to list them, even if there aren’t even ten.

Are you feeling nostalgic? There are two books about baseball in the 1970s to remind you how old you are.

I just received a copy of Cotrell’s Willie, Mickey and the Duke book, along with several other titles from Bloomsbury Press. Pleasure.

Honorable Mention: Even though it’s not technically a book, Fantasy Baseball Index Book 2026 – a magazine – is number 1 among the BBS.

Still not in the Amazon top ten? 501 Baseball Books Fans Should Read Before They Die. FYI: As of this post, it is ranked 3,198,974 at Books general; last time, 2,992,547. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Run in the Shadow of War ranks 3,503,046; last time, 3,375,805.

Shameless self-promotion: If you’re looking for some good baseball material in these quiet times, pick up a copy of 501? It’s like the dictionary; There are other books in there, which reminds me 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 this far).

Necessity is the mother of invention. Thanks to emergency surgery to say goodbye to a recalcitrant gallbladder, I have a few months off to recover. During that time I will work on a gallbladder revision. 501.

The new version will contain all the original material, but as you know, if you’re into reading baseball, a lot of great books have been published since then. 501 published about ten years ago. Since this is not a ranking where one title can be removed from the list, the new material will appear as an added chapter.

As a reminder, there is an Excel checklist with the book list in it 501. If you would like to keep track of how much you have read or own, please message me.

If you’ve read any of my books, thank you, I hope you enjoyed them, and please consider writing an Amazon review; it’s never too late.