Baseball Best-Sellers, April 14, 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
42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story, by Ed Henry
Teammate: My Journey in Baseball and a World Series for the Ages, by David Ross with Don Yeager
The Plan: Epstein, Maddon, and the Audacious Blueprint for a Cubs Dynasty, by David Kaplan
The Phenomenon: Pressure, the Yips, and the Pitch that Changed My Life, by Rick Ankiel with Tim Brown
My Cubs: A Love Story, by Scott Simon
Casey Stengel: Baseball’s Greatest Character, by Marty Appel
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams with John Underwood
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis

With the exception of My Cubs, the list is almost identical to last week’s. It’s the third baseball title for National Public Radio host Scott Simon, following Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan in 2000 and Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball in 2007. Look for a “Bookshelf Conversation” with him next week.

Just realized: in addition to four books focusing on the Cubs, four of these top tens were written by ballplayers.

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
Faith 42

Most Wished For

Cubs Way
Ballplayer
Teammate

NY Times monthly sports best-seller list: No baseball books in the March rolls. Ballplayer made its debut (#6) for the “week” of April 23. Haven’t read it yet, but it must be some book, given all the high rankings.

Not on either the Amazon or Times‘ lists? 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. Today: 626,269; last week: 1,181,637. 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 326,217, down from last week at 234,732.

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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