* TIBB — December 18

This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, December 18.

Title	Rank
General
The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci	1
The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, by Joe Posnanski	2
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis	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	4
Baseball Americana: Treasures from the Library of Congress	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 (3,135)	3
As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, by Bruce Weber	4
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton	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 (2,471)	3
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye (2,373)	4
Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain,by Marty Appel	5
Statistics
The Bill James Handbook 2010	1
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample	2
Baseball Prospectus 2010	3
The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by Tango, et al	4
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010	5

Analysis: Josh Hamilton’s book returns to the list, perhaps as a nod to the Christian values for the holiday season. I have dispensed with the baseball rankings in comparison with the general numbers. Suffice it to say, there can be thousands of regular books between the top baseball title and the second.

Once again, there are no baseball titles in either Amazon’s top 100 (although Baseball Americana and The Yankee Years are in the top 25 sports bestsellers) or The New York Times‘ non-fiction best seller lists.