TWIBB: July 2, 2010

July 2, 2010

The top baseball books, according to Amazon.com as of Friday, July 2.

Title Rank
General
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis 1
Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, by Bill Madden 2
The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, and Bench-Clearing Brawls: The Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime, by Scott Turbow and Michael Duca 3
The Bullpen Gospels: Major League Dreams of a Minor League Veteran, by Dirk Hayhurst 4
The Game from Where I Stand: A Ballplayer’s Inside View, by Doug Glanville 5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball 1
The Bullpen Gospels 2
The Game from Where I Stand 3
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: John Updike on Ted Williams, by John Updike 4
The Fix Is In: The Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR, by Brian Tuohy 5
History
Baseball Treasures, by Stephen Wong 1
Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch 2
Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu 3
Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s, by Dan Epstein 4
Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, The Mormon, and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, by John Moody 5
Statistics
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan’s Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks, by Zack Hample 1
The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, by Tom Tango et al 2
The Bill James Handbook 2010 3
The Baseball Maniac’s Almanac: The Absolutely, Positively, and Without Question Greatest Book of Facts, Figures, and Astonishing Lists Ever Compiled (Second … Almanac: Absolutely, Positively & Without), by Bert Randolph Sugar 4
Baseball Prospectus 2010
 5

(Note: The list includes print editions/baseball titles only, allowing for non-baseball titles and kindle editions that affected the rankings. Also, the rankings change hourly, so the result you get when you visit Amazon.com might not be the same.)

Analysis: As George Steinbrenner turns 80, Bill Madden’s biography  rises to #11 on The New York Times hardcover non-fiction list. Stephen King’s Blockade Billy registers at #17 on the hardcover fiction list. No baseball titles in Amazon’s overall top 100, but Steinbrenner (13), Moneyball (16), Baseball Codes (17), Bullpen Gospels (20), and The Game From Where I Stand (25)  are in the top 25 sports best-sellers.

It’s news to me: Bert Randolph Sugar’s Almanac appears on my list for the first time. Amazed at how many variations on this theme are available.

The Bullpen Gospels
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