Baseball Book Blog

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.

Here’s how the top ten stands right now…

1)  Baseball Prospectus 2008
2)  Bill James Goldmine 2008
3)   Moneyball
4)   The 33 Year Old Rookie
5)  Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook
6)  Yankee Stadium: The Official Retrospective
7)  Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster 2008
8)  Bill James Handbook 2008
9)  Hardball Times Season Preview 2008
10)  Red Sox Rule

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.

Let’s get right to the list…

1)  Baseball Prospectus 2008
2)  Bill James Goldmine 2008
3)  Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook
4)  Moneyball
5)  Ron Shandler’s 2007 Baseball Forecaster
6)  Yankee Stadium:  The Official Retrospective
7)  Bill James Handbook 2008
8)  Hardball Times Season Preview 2008
9)  ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition
10)  Game of Shadows

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:

1) Baseball Prospectus 2008
2) Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook
3) Bill James Goldmine 2008
4) Ron Shandler’s Baseball Forecaster 2007
5) Moneyball
6) Bill James Handbook 2008
7) Hardball Times Season Preview 2008
Game of Shadows
9) Crazy ‘08
10) Minor League Baseball Analyst 2008

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.