Baseball Best-Sellers, January 6, 2017

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.

2017 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics by Ron Shandler
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
Sports Illustrated Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series Champions Commemorative Issue
Baseball Prospectus 2017
42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
The Natural, by Bernard Malamud
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood
Do You Want to Work in Baseball?: Advice to aquire employment in MLB and mentorship in Scouting and Player Development, by Bill Geivett *
The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond, by Jeff Silverman
Won for the Ages: How the Chicago Cubs Became the 2016 World Series Champions, by the Chicago Tribune via Triumph

* Making its debut on the Bookshelf Best-Seller List

Glad to see some old favorites have returned to the fold in The Natural and The Science of Hitting. New to the list is Geivett’s job search title. From the book’s page:

Do you want to know the process of acquiring employment in MLB? Have you wondered how baseball scouts evaluate players? Do you want to know more about professional baseball Player Development? Bill Geivett draws on his 28 years of experience in professional baseball to answer these questions. He offers his insights from his time as a player, scout, and front office executive. Do You Want to Work in Baseball? is more than a “how to” description of details to remember. It is filled with Bill’s real-life lessons learned from the varied roles he has held for Major League Baseball Clubs including the California Angels, New York Yankees, Montreal Expos,Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Colorado Rockies. For anyone who desires a career in Major League Baseball or any professional sport, as well as, athletes, parents, and fans, Do You Want to Work in Baseball? is a unique practical look into a world that only a few have seen first-hand. This book details the necessary preparation and extensive work required to attain an interview or employment in today’s competitive landscape of professional sports. It also details the process of scouting younger athletes and projecting their abilities into the future. Lastly, it takes the reader into a thought-provoking look at professional Player Development and the intricate processes and perspectives involved. The book includes some colorful stories about Tommy Lasorda, Joe Madden and FP Santangelo, among others.

I generally have a lot of reservations about self-published books; there’s a tendency to promise more than they deliver but since I haven’t read this one (nor plan to), I’ll say no more.

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, which have remained the same since last week:

Hot New Releases

2017 Baseball Forecaster: & Encyclopedia of Fanalytics
Baseball Prospectus 2017
Cubs 2017 Calendar

Most Wished For

Sports Illustrated Cubs edition
Moneyball
The Only Rule Is It Has to Work

NY Times monthly sports Best-Sellers list: the Cubs book put out by MLB is #11. No other baseball title unless you want to include Joe Buck’s Lucky Bastard (which I don’t. By the way, and not that I care, but doesn’t a title like that get him banned from places like WalMart?).

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,177,424; last week: 481,053. Wrong way, folks. On the plus side, the forthcoming Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War ranks 893,317, so there is that.

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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