I’m a day late here, but it’s opening day so there’s no better day then to talk about baseball. Anyway, there’s quite a few debuts this week so let’s get to the list.
Those pesky writers from Baseball Prospectus retain their top spot but they’re getting some serious heat from Jose Canseco, who’s new book debuts at number two. Bill James Goldmine 2008 drops all the way to number five while the BA Prospect Handbook looks to be gone from the list soon.
There’s two other debuts at the bottom of the list. But Didn’t We Have Fun is written by Peter Morris, who I’ve met and read his other work. He’s an excellent reseacher and writer so this is definitely a book I’m going to pick up. The Greatest Game is an indepth look at the Red Sox/Yankees one game playoff back in 1978 and it also looks like a solid read.
There’s a couple of newcomers this week. It’s interesting how a few days can shift this list a lot. Just a couple of days ago, the 33 Year Old Rookie would have been near the bottom but it’s had a good showing while the ESPN Encyclopedia was moving up only to plummet off the list in the final days. I picked Sunday for no other reason then I usually have a little more time but this list changes, at least a little bit, every day.
So The 33 Year Old Rookie and Red Sox Rule (haven’t picked it up but it looks like it’s mostly about Terry Francona) make their top ten debut. Moneyball still has some staying power and they’ve actually moved up to number three while the BA Prospect Handbook looks to be on it’s way out of the top five soon. They even got the right Ron Shandler’s Forecaster on the list this time.
Next week, I’d expect to see Rob Neyer’s new book on the list with it’s debut the following Tuesday. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Baseball Enyclopedia pop in and out of the top ten as other books with less staying power make their way down and out. Hope everyone had a good Easter.
Rob Neyer has a new book coming out in less then two weeks. Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends comes out on April 1 and it looks like an interesting read. You can check out an excerpt of the book by hitting the link.
This weeks list has the top five staying as is, just with a slightly different ranking. The Bill James Goldmine supplanted the BA Prospect Handbook at number two while Moneyball jumped over Ron Shandler’s Forecaster. By the way, I used Ron Shandler’s Forecaster for the first time this year in my fantasy draft and found it extremely helpful. There’s just enough text to give you an idea of which direction a player is going in a very quick manner.
The Yankee Stadium Retrospective made its debut on the list at number six and the other new book to the list is the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, which came in at number nine. The Encyclopedia is a great book. It’s 1,700 pages of baseball so what more could you ask. The Minor League Baseball Analyst and Crazy ‘08 were the two casualties.
I just received a copy of Working at the Ballpark by Tom Jones. It has over 50 interviews with professionals who work at the ballpark including executives, managers, players and even vendors. No Tiger connections, but it looks like a solid read and I’ll give it a full review when I’m finished with it.
I’m also reading Juicing the Game by Howard Bryant. I may be meeting Mr. Bryant in April so I wanted to make sure I could say I had read his book. The title is a little deceving because while it’s about steroids in baseball, it’s also a great business of baseball text. In fact it kind of picks up right where Lords of the Realm leaves off.
Alright, this kicks off my daily feature of discussing the current top ten book list over at Amazon.com. Of course by the time you read this, the list very well may have changed so bear with me. Here’s a look at the list:
There’s no surprise that the perennial powerhouse, Baseball Prospectus, checks in at number one. I got my copy earlier this week, read the Tigers section and a couple of others and put it down in favor of Bill James Goldmine. Number 2 is BA’s Prospect Handbook, which is a book I’ve never purchased. Bill James Goldmine is the book I’m going through now and while I like it, it’s more of a preview/highlight of what’s over at Bill James Online. I’m not sure why Shandler’s Forecaster from last year is on the list but it may be a mistake. If you want to get the most current version, be sure to get 2008 not 2007.
Moneyball, a personal favorite, rounds out the top five. Despite it being written nearly five years old, it’s a testament to how solid of a read it is because it’s still in the top five. The Bill James Handbook, the first of the “annuals” to be published every year, still has some staying power at number six while Game of Shadows, aka the Barry Bonds story, checks in at number eight with a very reasonable 5.99 price tag. In between those two is the Hardball Times Preseason Annual, which I wrote the Tigers section for. I’m obviously biased so anything I say about it should be read with a grain of salt.
Crazy ‘08 is a book I just picked up but haven’t read yet. The 1908 Cubs should be highlighted over at Wrigley Field Curse, although Aaron dropped the ball last year on his 1907 Cubs diary. He has told me he’s committed to doing the job this year. I’ve never purchased the Minor League Baseball Analyst, but that rounds out the top ten. I’m curious to hear what people have to say about it though and whether I should add it to the growing list of baseball annuals I purchase every year.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the creator of Tigerblog and Baseball Historians. I’m also a staff writer for the Hardball Times and I’ve been in a book or two myself. I’ve been buying my share of baseball books over the past couple of years and I figured I’d share some of the information I’m gleaned from these tomes. The one regular feature I plan on doing is a Sunday Top Ten, which will be my look at the Amazon.com top ten selling baseball books and you can find that on Sunday. Other then that, I’ll be writing here as I read the books I have. I’ll also be exploring some old books so don’t think this will just be the latest stuff.
I hope you stop by from time to time to check it out, and feel free to pipe in on your favorite baseball books. Or if you don’t like what I’m saying in one of my reviews, I can handle the constructive criticism and I look forward to the discussion.
