Baseball Best-Sellers, May 12, 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.

Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages, by David Ross with Don Yeager
Papi: My Story, by David Ortiz with Michael Holley
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
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
42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life, by Rick Ankiel with Tim Brown
The Plan: Epstein, Maddon, and the Audacious Blueprint for a Cubs Dynasty, by David Kaplan
The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager’s Old-School Views on Success in Sports and Life, by Mike Methany with Jerry B. Jenkins
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams and John Underwood

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

Teammate
Papi
Smart Baseball

Most Wished For

Teammate
Smart Baseball
Cubs Way

NY Times monthly sports best-seller list: Four baseball titles in the May monthly list: Cubs Way (#1), Ballplayer (3), Phenomenon (8), and 42 Faith (10).

Not only is Ross’ book #1 among baseball titles, it’s #79 for all books, which I find amazing. But bye-bye, Moneyball, again.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 1,051,369; last week: 1,068,318. Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War, which launched April 25, currently ranks 332,814, down from last week at 156,525. But it just keeps bouncing up and down. In an hour it could be 94,000.

If you have read either of my books, thanks, hope you enjoyed it, and please consider writing a review for the Amazon pages; 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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