The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Jan. 7, at 1 p.m.
| Title |
Rank |
| General |
The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood , by Jane Leavy |
1 |
Baseball Prospectus 2011 |
2 |
Baseball Forecaster 2011 , by Ron Shandler |
3 |
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game , by Michael Lewis |
4 |
Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings |
5 |
| Essays and Writing |
| Moneyball |
1 |
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back , by Josh Hamilton with Tim Keown |
2 |
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran , by Dirk Hayhurst |
3 |
Ball Four , by Jim Bouton |
4 |
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2011 |
5 |
| History |
Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series , by David Pietrusza |
1 |
Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox , by Bill Simmons |
2 |
Baseball America 2011 Almanac: A Comprehensive Review of the 2010 Season  |
3 |
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams , by John Updike |
4 |
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend , by James S. Hirsch |
5 |
| Statistics |
| Baseball Forecaster |
1 |
The Bill James Handbook 2011 |
2 |
| Hardball Times 2011 |
3 |
| Baseball America Almanac 2011 |
4 |
Minor League Baseball Analyst 2011 , by Deric McKinney |
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: The Last Boy is number six on the overall sports bestseller list. Fantasy players are gearing up: The 2011 Baseball Prospectus ranks #14, while the new Baseball Forecaster is #18. Hayhurst was recently released by the Toronto Blue Jays.
It’s news to me: Rothstein remains on the list, perhaps thanks to the success of Boardwalk Empire. Still can’t account for Now I Can Die in Piece.
Tagged as:
Baseball America,
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back,
Hardball Times Baseball Annual,
Jane Leavy,
Jim Bouton,
Moneyball,
Ron Shandler,
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran
is available on Amazon.com,
{ 2 comments }
Ron,
Is there any way to contact Amazon, to let them know it is unfair to authors like Leavy, to put books like the SAS Survival Handbook, which is ranked ahead of her Mantle bio, in the Sports category?
Did you think that is unfair?
I do!
Totally agree with you, Jay. Just like finding a basketball book mixed in with baseball at Barnes and Noble. I don’t know what the situation is as far as their paramaters go, but I’m guessing everything is automated. I’ve tried to get in touch with Amazon for previous questions and it’s difficult to get an actual response, but this is a valid question.
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