TWIBB: Feb 4, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 4, at 10 a.m.

Title	Rank
General
Baseball Prospectus 2011	1
Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings (Baseball America Prospect Handbook)	2
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle rank in category: #5)	3
The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Childhood, by Jane Leavy (Kindle rank: #3)	4
The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First, by Jonah Keri	5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball (Kindle rank in category: #2)	1
The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2011	2
Ball Four, by Jim Bouton	3
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst (Kindle rank in category: #4)	4
Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book	5
History
Baseball America 2011 Almanac: A Comprehensive Review of the 2010 Season (Baseball America Almanac)	1
100 Years of Major League Baseball: American and National Leagues, 1901-2000, by David Nemec	2
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy (P.S.), by Jane Leavy (Kindle rank in category: #6)	3
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City, by Jonathan Mahler	4
Sports Illustrated: The Baseball Book	5
Statistics
Baseball America Prospect Handbook	1
Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler	2
The Bill James Handbook 2011	3
Baseball America 2011 Almanac	4
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample	5

(Note: Since The New York Times has decided to start listing e-book bestsellers, I guess it’s time for me to change with the Times (heh, get it?). So now this list includes print editions/baseball titles allowing for non-baseball titles and kindle editions that affected the rankings, however, where appropriate, I’ve also included the overall ranking with the category of the Kindle version. This means that if Jane Leavy’s bio of Sandy Koufax is in the top five print and has a Kindle edition, I will denote the rank of the print with the Kindle in parentheses, regardless of whether it actually ranks higher than the “old-fashioned.” But if a Kindle title is in the top five without a print version, it is omitted. For example, if the Kindle of Rothstein came in third place overall in the history category, but without the equivalent print version, it would be omitted. Confused? Me, too. Also, the rankings change hourly, so the result you get when you visit Amazon.com might not be the same.)

Analysis: Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won breaks into the general bestseller list, coming it at 52, as well as second in the sports category Kindle ranking in category: #5). Other baseball books in the sports department include Baseball Prospectus (#7), Baseball America Prospect Handbook (15), Moneyball (18), and The Last Boy (19).

It’s news to me: Jonah Keri’s examination of the Tampa Nay Rays’ success story makes the list. But what’s Nemec’s 10-year-old book doing here?