* TWIBB: December 4

This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, December 4.

Title	Rank
General
Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress (565)	1
The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci (731)	2
The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, by Joe Posnanski (1,020)	3
Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk about How the Game is Played, by Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, and Lonnie Wheeler(1,192)	4
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (1,597)	5
Essays and Writing
Sixty Feet Six Inches	1
Moneyball	2
Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox, by Bill Simmons (3,856)	3
Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book (4,428)	4
As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, by Bruce Weber (4,807)	5
History
The Machine	1
Sixty Feet, Six Inches	2
Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: The Triumph of America’s Pastime, by Mark Frost (2,492)	3
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye (3,552)	4
Now I Can Die in Peace	5
Statistics
The Bill James Handbook 2010 (2,746)
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 (7,368)	2
2010 Baseball Forecaster, by Ron Shandler (8.809)	3
Baseball Prospectus 2010 (10,476)	4
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample (11,932)	5

Analysis: Baseball Americana jumps to the top spot, since it’s getting down to the wire for gift-giving time. Perhaps that’s why most of the rankings are so much lower. Gift books and overall bestsellers leap to higher slots, pushing these older titles down. new season draws nearer.

Larry Tye’s Satchel returns to the top 5, aided, no doubt, by its inclusion on The New York Times‘ list of notable books for 2009.

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