TWIBB: Oct. 23, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22.

Title	Rank
General
The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy	1
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton	2
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis	3
Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden	4
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams, by John Updike	5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball	1
Beyond Belief	2
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst	3
The Yogi Book, by Yogi Berra	4
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton	5
History
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu	1
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy, by Jane Leavy	2
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch	3
Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero, by Danny Peary with Tom Clavin	4
The Mental ABC’s of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement, by H.A. Dorfman	5
Statistics
The Bill James Handbook 2011	1
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample	2
The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by Tom Tango et al	3
The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches, by Rob Neyer and Bill James	4
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2011	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: Leavy’s new Mantle bio is the #17 book overall on the Amazon Top 100 bestseller’s list, as well as the number one general sports book. Her latest offering has spurred interest anew in her previous, highly acclaimed bio, also about a Hall of Famer who had to play with great pain.

Hamilton’s memoir ranks #17 overall, probably fueled by the Rangers’ advancement deep into the post-season (and the ginger ale celebration following their ALDS championship).

It’s news to me: As fans of the non-World Series contending teams settle in for the long winter, they’re already looking ahead for their fantasy picks, which accounts for the interest in the new Bill James and Hardball Times annuals.