Bestselling Sports Biographies of 2009

Not being cynical, but that's great news for celebrity books. Not so helpful for books by journos/reporters/writers.

 

Jim Tressel - " Preparing Your Team for The Big Game"

 

So does this mean neither Roger Clemens book (Pearlman's or the NY Daily News staff's one) didn't sell more than 11,000 copies? Yikes. I thought Pearlman's was really well-reported and narrated. Do people just not want to read about active (or recently active) players?

 

I think that list is limited to books categorized as biographies, by whomever makes those categorizations.

 

Satchel's a lovely read. For Veeck aficionadoes (I'm a huge one), it's even more fun.

Do not dismiss the Barra Berra book. It's quite comprehensive, and very well written.

You could not make me read the eight remaining bios listed at gunpoint -- especially Nantz. Gag.

 

Definitely make it sing Waylon, but sadly that will probably have little to do with whether anyone actually buys it. So while I say good luck with the writing, I wish even more luck with the marketing.

Swenk, A few years ago when Friday Night Lights the movie came out, SI did a lookback at the book. There was a line that the book still sells something like 75,000 copies a year. Is that possible? I know the book's a landmark and wildly popular, but I found that hard to believe that every year it still sells that many, nearly 20 years after publication.

 

Bought the Torre book but none of the others. I would like to read the Munson book though

 

Friday Night Lights? The power of television, my friend . . . the power of television.

 

Given all the pre pub I'd say you are right. If they had it to do over I bet they would not have done the SI excerpt where they shot their load.

 

Just to make it more complicated, here's an additional list from the same column I posted above, listing
"Top 10 Sports and Recreation Books." In other words, miscellaneous (if you can figure out why Moneyball and Rocco Mediate and the WWE Encyclopedia are on the same list, let me know).

Top 10 Sports & Recreation Books

1. "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen," by Christopher McDougall - 78,000 copies sold

2. "Strength Training Anatomy, 2nd Edition," by Frederic Delavier - 54,000 copies sold

3. "The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever," by Mark Frost - 34,000 copies sold

4. "Got Fight?: The 50 Zen Principles of Hand-to-Face Combat," by Forrest Griffin - 34,000 copies sold

5. "WWE Encyclopedia," by Brian Shields - 32,000 copies sold

6. "The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport," by Carl Hiaasen - 31,000 copies sold

7. "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why," by Laurence Gonzales - 28,000 copies sold

8. "Are You Kidding Me?: The Story of Rocco Mediate's Extraordinary Battle with Tiger Woods at the US Open," by Rocco Mediate and John Feinstein - 25,000 copies sold

9. "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game," by Michael Lewis - 25,000 copies sold

10. "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis - 24,000 copies sold

 

It's entirely possible, if you factor in all the editions of the book (the school editions alone probably constitute much of those sales).

You'd think the readership would eventually become saturated, but the TV exposure constantly drives new readers into the market.