TWIBB — July 24

This week in baseball books, featuring the best-sellers according to Amazon.com on Friday, July 17.

Title	Rank
General
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, Tye	1
Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain, Appel	2
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Lewis	3
Bert Sugar’s Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America’s Greatest Game	4
The Yankee Years, Torre and Verducci	5
Essays and Writing
Moneyball	1
Beyond Belief: Finding the Strength to Come Back, Hamilton and Keown	2
Heart of the Game: Life, Death, and Mercy in Minor League America, Price	3
As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, Weber	4
Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox, Simmons	5
History
Satchel	1
Munson	2
Bert Sugar’s Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America’s Greatest Game	3
Yogi Berra, Eternal Yankee, Barra	4
Forever Blue, D’Antonio	5
Statistics
The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Tango et al	1
Watching Baseball Smarter, Hample	2
Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know About the Game is Wrong, Baseball Prospectus	3
The Bill James Handbook	4
Baseball Prospectus 2009	5

Analysis: With the Hall of Fame inductions fast approaching, Sugar’s photo-essay book is a natural to break into the top five ranks. The Munson and Paige bios continue to hold their spots; they’re nos. 17 and 19, respectively, on the NY Times bestseller non-fiction hardcover list. Weber (As they See ‘Em) will be a guest speaker at the SABR convention in Washington, DC next week. An umpire in my league told me he bought eight copies as gifts on my recommendation. I figure I’m entitled to a cut from the author.