TWIBB: March 4, 2011

March 4, 2011

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, Feb 25, at 1:30 p.m.

Title Rank
General
Baseball Prospectus 2011 1
Baseball America 2011 Prospect Handbook: The 2011 Expert Guide to Baseball Prospects and MLB Organization Rankings
2
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (Kindle version) 3
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (Print version) 4
The Mental ABC’s of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement, by H.A. Dorfman 5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball (Kindle) 1
Moneyball (Print) 2
The Mental Keys to Hitting: A Handbook of Strategies for Performance Enhancement, by H.A. Dorfman 3
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, by Josh Hamilton with Tim Keown (Kindle) 4
Solid Fool’s Gold: Detours on the Way to Conventional Wisdom, by Bill James 5
History
The Mental ABC’s of Pitching 1
A Band of Misfits, by Andrew Baggary 2
The Boys of Summer, by Roger Kahn 3
56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports, by Kostya Kennedy 4
Sandy Koufax, by Jane Leavy (Kindle) 5
Statistics
Baseball Prospectus 1
Baseball America 2011 Prospects Handbook 2
Baseball Forecaster 2011, by Ron Shandler 3
The Bill James Handbook 2011 4
Amazin’ Avenue Annual 2011: New York Mets Preview, by Eric Simon 5

Analysis: Baseball Prospectus dropped like a rock, now that’s finally been released, down to 97 from 13 for all Amazon titles. It still tops the sports list, followed by Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won (17). Scorecasting remains #20 on the NY Times’ Hardcover non-fiction list. The death of Duke Snider must have something to do with the return of Kahn’s classic, The Boys of Summer. And will someone explain how Dorfman’s psychological study on pitching winds up in the history category?

It’s news to me: yet another Bill James book, this time Fool’s Solid Gold, which is heavier on the essays and somewhat lighter on the stats than the rest of the ouevre.  Eric Somin’s hefty Amazin’ Avenue Annual review/preview on the Mets debuts on the Friday Bookshelf countdown.



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