Happy New Year. Baseball America has posted their top ten book list for 2009. Unfortunately I’ve been working in another direction and haven’t had as much time to read baseball books so this site has pretty much gone dormant. If you want, subscribe to the RSS feed and in the event I kick things off again (which I’m hoping to do but I’ve said that before), you’ll know without having to stop by.
Baseball Prospectus continues to trail Joe Torre and while there are no new faces in the top, three new books have cracked the top ten in the bottom half.
Of the three new books, I’ve picked up two. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary is a very cool resource. With over 10,000 entries, you have a definition for just about any baseball term you can think of. This is what I call a “flipping book.” I’ll flip to a random page, and read, and learn. This is the third edition and it gets revised ever ten years so this will be a mainstay for quite some time.
I’m also about 50 pages into Forever Blue, which is a well written biography of Walter O’Malley. I’ll be reviewing this probably in two weeks over at the Hardball Times.
Alright, just a few quick comments. First, I’m way behind in my baseball reading. Of the newer books listed above, I’ve picked up Baseball Prospectus 2009 and the Bill James Handbook. I’ve read Juiced and Moneyball. I’m tightening my book buying budget but I have a couple of review copies coming in. At least on review will show up at the Hardball Times, but the hope is to get things going here again.
Second, there’s very few new books between the last time I wrote in Jan. and now. The order has changed but seven of the ten books were on that list or a previous list. The biggest surprise is that Baseball Prospectus isn’t number one, because they usually rule the roost at this point in time. Looks like everyone wants Joe Torre’s dirt on the Yankees.
You can definitely tell it’s Annual season, although I was surprised Moneyball found it’s way to the top. Baseball Prospectus will be there soon, the book just hasn’t come out yet. For the longest time Beyond Belief and Champions were at the top but that was when I took my hiatus.
I’ve been slow in buying Annuals this year. I have the Bill James Handbook and the Hardball Times Annual (which makes sense since I have a piece in the book) but little else. I usually buy Ron Shandler’s book and Baseball Prospectus as well, but even what I have, I’ve had a tough time getting through. I just need to get back into the swing of reading baseball books. I’ve been on a Star Wars kick lately.
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.
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.
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.
