Baseball Best-Sellers, December 16, 2016

December 16, 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/41oZVEzi7OL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=149%2C223&ssl=1Sports Illustrated Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Champions Commemorative Issue
  2. The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Jeff Silverman
  3. Won for the Ages: How the Chicago Cubs Became the 2016 World Series Champions, by the Chicago Tribune via Triumph
  4. 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry (release date April 4, 2017) *
  5. LIFE Chicago Cubs: Champions at Last
  6. 2016 World Series Champions – Chicago Cubs, by Major League Baseball
  7. The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, by Jeff Passan
  8. Fly the W: The Chicago Cubs’ Historic 2016 Championship Season (Cubs World), by Daily Herald *

* Making its debut on the Bookshelf Best-Seller List

No, that’s not an omission: as of this posting, for some bizarre reason the sixth and seventh slots were blank. Scrolling down a bit, I did not see the perpetually listed Moneyball, so I’m guessing that would fit in one of those spaces. The other? Dunno. Could be another Cubs title.

The forthcoming Jackie Robinson book comes from Thomas Nelson, which publishes titles of Christian themes. And since we’re talking about future releases, FYI Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War is 1,944,982. Both the Greenberg and Robinson books are scheduled for April 4 which is kind of cool, given their relationship.

MORE lists: Amazon has started a couple of new ones, including “Hot New Releases” and “Most Wished For.” A look at the top three in each:

Hot New Releases

  1. 42 Faith
  2. Fly the W
  3. Teammate: My Life in Baseball, by David Ross and Don Yeager

Most Wished For

  1. Sports Illustrated Cubs edition
  2. The Only Rule Is It Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team, by Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller.
  3.  Again, blank. Someone is asleep at the switch it seems.

NY Times Sports Best-Sellers list: Won for the Ages ranks #8 and the Cubs book put out by MLB is #15 on the current list.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,338,377; last week: 1,159,428. Still heading in the wrong direction, folks. Makes a great holiday gift.

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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