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Darren Rovell brings you his unique take on the business of sports: a multi-billion dollar global industry and obsession full of personalities and products. On Sports Biz, Darren will give you his up-to-date take on everything from salaries to endorsement deals to marketing and promotions, trades and tirades – in short, everything that makes sports so exciting.

Why Book On A-Rod? Because It Sells

Published: Monday, 4 May 2009 | 11:11 AM ET

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By: Darren Rovell
Sports Business Reporter

A-Rod
Source: amazon.com
A-Rod
New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi spent some time yesterday addressing the new book on Alex Rodriguez, which comes out today.

“I don’t understand why someone would write a book like this anyway,” Girardi told reporters. “And some people may not care to hear that, but I don’t understand.”

The book’s author Selena Roberts told Bob Costas on the MLB Network on Sunday night that the book deserves to be published because no sports figure should be beyond reproach.

But the best answer for Girardi might have been this simple two-word answer: It sells.

Who knows if the publisher Harper [NWS Loading... () ] will have enough books in stores after having to push up the book’s release date again following a New York Daily News leak of the book’s juiciest details last week.

But we know that recent buzzed about sports books have a pretty good record of sales, even after media members read the book, dissect it and publish the best parts.

Joe Torre and Tom Verducci’s “The Yankee Years,” is still at an impressive No. 226 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings, three months after the book hit the shelves.

And Roberts’ book called "A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez" is showing plenty of promise. At 10:30 a.m. this morning, the book had its highest ranking yet – coming in at No. 97.

If Girardi wants to question something about the book, he might want to question who would want to buy it, but he shouldn’t question why the book itself should be written.