Baseball Best-Sellers, March 31, 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.

The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse , by Tom Verducci
Ballplayer, by Chipper Jones with Carroll Rogers Walton
Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character, by Marty Appel *
Baseball Prospectus 2017
Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages, by David Ross with Don Yeager
42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
The Plan: Epstein, Maddon, and the Audacious Blueprint for a Cubs Dynasty, by David Kaplan
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
Baseball America 2017 Prospect Handbook: Rankings and Reports of the Best Young Talent in Baseball
The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life, by Rick Ankiel and Tom Brown (April 18)

* Making its “debut” on this list.

Ed Henry will be a guest at the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse to discuss 42 Faith on Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. Full details here.

Isn’t it fun that two books on legendary baseball lifers are on the list at the same time? I already did a Bookshelf Conversation with Dickson; now it’s Appel’s turn. Look for that early next week.

For awhile, I though Moneyball might not make the top 10, which would have been a shocker.

New York Times: The April list is out and there are no baseball titles. Since that is a monthly list, it means don’t expect one to pop in. Isn’t that silly? It’s so easy to update lists these days, it strikes me as kind of lazy, what the Times is presenting. This is the time when a lot of baseball titles are released, and while I have no illusions of grandeur that my new Greenberg book would ever be one of them, it’s easy to imagine Dickson or Appel’s work showing up. Moving on…

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

Cubs Way
Ballplayer
Casey Stengel

Most Wished For

Cubs Way
Teammate
The Plan

NY Times monthly sports best-seller list: No baseball books in the March rolls.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 796,684; last week: 1,183,549. My forthcoming Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War currently ranks 289,978, up from last week at 876,844.

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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