Baseball Best-Sellers, April 21 , 2017

April 21, 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.

    1. The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life, by Rick Ankiel with Tim Brown

Image result for my cubs a love story

  1. The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse, by Tom Verducci
  2. Ballplayer, by Chipper Jones with Carroll Rogers Walton
  3. 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
  4. Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages, by David Ross with Don Yeager
  5. Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball, by Keith Law
  6. The Plan: Epstein, Maddon, and the Audacious Blueprint for a Cubs Dynasty, by David Kaplan
  7. Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis
  8. Catapult Loading System: How To Teach 100-Pound Hitters To Consistently Drive The Ball 300-Feet, by Joey Myers
  9. My Cubs: A Love Story, by Scott Simon

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

  1. The Phenomenon
  2. Cubs Way
  3. Ballplayer

Most Wished For

  1. Cubs Way
  2. The Phenomenon
  3. Ballplayer

NY Times monthly sports best-seller list: No baseball books in the April rolls. The Cubs Way ranks #12 (#6) for the “week” of April 30.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,145,651; last week: 626,269. Whaaaa? My forthcoming Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War (which is scheduled for release on April 25) currently ranks 232,446, up from last week at 326,217. It had been as high as 39,000 earlier in the week which I attribute to a couple of interviews I did on Wednesday.

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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