TWIBB: July 2, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 2.

Title	Rank
General
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis	1
Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden	2
The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow and Michael Duca	3
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst	4
The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville	5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball	1
The Bullpen Gospels	2
The Game from Where I Stand	3
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams, by John Updike	4
The Fix Is In: The Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR, by Brian Tuohy	5
History
Baseball Treasures, by Stephen Wong	1
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch	2
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu	3
Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, by Dan Epstein		4
Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, The Mormon, and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, by John Moody	5
Statistics
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample	1
The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by Tom Tango et al	2
The Bill James Handbook 2010	3
The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac: The Absolutely, Positively, and Without Question Greatest Book of Facts, Figures, and Astonishing Lists Ever Compiled (Second … Almanac: Absolutely, Positively & Without), by Bert Randolph Sugar	4
Baseball Prospectus 2010	5

(Note: The list includes print editions/baseball titles only, allowing for non-baseball titles and kindle editions that affected the rankings. Also, the rankings change hourly, so the result you get when you visit Amazon.com might not be the same.)

Analysis: As George Steinbrenner turns 80, Bill Madden’s biography rises to #11 on The New York Times hardcover non-fiction list. Stephen King’s Blockade Billy registers at #17 on the hardcover fiction list. No baseball titles in Amazon’s overall top 100, but Steinbrenner (13), Moneyball (16), Baseball Codes (17), Bullpen Gospels (20), and The Game From Where I Stand (25) are in the top 25 sports best-sellers.

It’s news to me: Bert Randolph Sugar’s Almanac appears on my list for the first time. Amazed at how many variations on this theme are available.

The Bullpen Gospels