Baseball Best Sellers, March 3, 2016

March 4, 2016

NOTE: I have been posting these things long enough now that a few have commented that the introductory section isn’t necessary anymore. But I’m leaving it in because, to paraphrase Joe DiMaggio when asked why he played so hard all the time, there may be people who’ve never read the best-seller entries before. So on with the show…

Caveat 1: Print editions only (at least for now); because I’m old school.

Caveat 2: Since the rankings are updated every hour, these lists might not longer be 100 percent accurate by the time you read them. But it’ll be close enough for government work.

Caveat 3: Sometimes they’ll try to pull one over on you and include a book within a category that doesn’t belong. I’m using my discretion to eliminate such titles from my list. For example, for some reason a recent listing included Tarnished Heels: How Unethical Actions and Deliberate Deceit at the University of North Carolina Ended the “The Carolina Way,” which, far as I can tell, is not at all about baseball, at least not in the main.

  1. https://i0.wp.com/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/photo.goodreads.com/books/1454284442i/25900559._UY200_.jpg?ssl=1Baseball Prospectus 2016
  2. Baseball America 2016 Prospect Handbook: Scouting Reports and Rankings of the Best Young Talent in Baseball
  3. This Old Man: All in Pieces, by Roger Angell
  4. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
  5. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams
  6. The Cardinals Way: How One Team Embraced Tradition and Moneyball at the Same Time, by Howard Megdal
  7. 2016 Baseball Forecaster, by Ron Shandler
  8. 100 Things Astros Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, by Brian McTaggart
  9. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan
  10. The Mental Game of Baseball: A Guide to Peak Performance, by H.A. Dorfman

A couple of new (to this list) titles: Passan’s The Arm is one of the most buzzed about newcomers for the season. The Astros book on the other hand, is another  of those “fill in the blanks” series that seem to be of interest only to fans of the specific team (or those who will read anything about baseball).

New month, new The New York Times list: Baseball America 2016 Prospect Handbook ranks #7. That’s it.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 978,567; last week: 1,032,287. Baby steps. Come on, folks, tell a friend.

If you have read 501, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing a review for the Amazon page; it’s never too late. There haven’t been any in awhile. Doesn’t have to be long (or even complimentary, if you didn’t like it), but anything would be appreciated. And thanks to those who have.

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