Baseball Best-Sellers, October 28, 2016

October 28, 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.

NEW: To give a sense of context, I’m including where each book falls in the overall Amazon rankings.

  1. https://i0.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/517dwGvXLTL.jpg?resize=199%2C248&ssl=1Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (5,028 overall)
  2. Game Worn: Baseball Treasures from the Game’s Greatest Heroes and Moments, by Stephen Wong (7,483) *
  3. The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life, by Matheny with Jerry Jenkins (7,579)
  4. The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
  5. 100 Things Cubs Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (100 Things…Fans Should Know), by Jimmy Greenfield (9,830)*
  6. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan (11,441)
  7. A Nice Little Place on the North Side: A History of Triumph, Mostly Defeat, and Incurable Hope at Wrigley Field, by George F. Will (13,905)
  8. The Bill James Handbook 2017 (14,212)
  9. The Big 50: Cincinnati Reds: The Men and Moments that Made the Cincinnati Reds, by Chad Dotson (14,871) *
  10. I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography of Jackie Robinson, by Jackie Robinson (15,850)

* Indicates debut on this list

Not surprising to see a couple of Cubs titles on the list, but there’s one about the wrong team in Ohio. To be fair, there haven’t been all that many titles about the Indians. Look for that to change next year. Game Worn looks like a great holiday gift.

NY Times: The only baseball title on the October list is a one of those quickly-published tribute pieces (it was released September 6) to a retiring legend, in this case, Big Papi: David Ortiz, Thanks for the Memories by David Fisher and David Aretha.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,237,973; last week: 1,226,383. I wonder if this one will get a bump when the Greenberg book comes out? Bonus! But even my wife’s new book, 101 ‘Tails’ of a House Call Veterinarian is doing better at 608,023. This cannot stand!

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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