TWIBB — January 22, 2010

January 22, 2010

This week’s best-selling baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, January 23.

Title Rank
General
Baseball Prospectus 2010 1
2010 Baseball Forecaster (Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster) 2
Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook: The Comprehensive Guide to Rising Stars from the Definitive Source on Prospects (Baseball America Prospect Handbook) 3
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye 4
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball
 1
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 1 2
Heads-Up Baseball : Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time, by Hanson, et al 3
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton 4
Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox, by Bill Simmons 5
History
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye 1
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler2 2
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 3
Past Time: Baseball As History, by Jules Tygiel 4
101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out, by Josh Pahigian 5
Statistics
Baseball Prospectus 2010 1
2010 Baseball Forecaster 2
Baseball America 2010 Prospect Handbook 3
The Bill James Handbook 2010 4
Baseball America 2010 Almanac: A Comprehensive Review of the 2009 Season (Baseball America Almanac) 5

1 The second ranked title was the Kindle edition of Moneyball
2 The second ranked title was the Kindle edition of Satchel.

Analysis: The Mark McGwire’s mea culpa that brought back Vindicated sure didn’t last long. Several new books and old favorites are on the list this week, including pre-orders for the forthcoming Baseball Prospectus 2010 and the new Willie Mays biography. (I wish someone would explain how a book that hasn’t come out yet can be ranked on the list.)  Tygiel’s brief book on key issues in baseball history is one of my favorites and highly recommended, as is Pahigian’s paperback edition of his entertaining baseball places to visit, part of that continues on the philosophy of “do it now” books that came out a couple of years ago.

Finally, congratulations to  Larry Tye, whose biography of Satchel Paige was named winner of Spitball Magazine’s coveted Casey Award.

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