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Title: “New York Yankees: Seasons of Glory”

Authors: William Hageman and Warren Wilbert

Publisher: Jonathan David Publishers ($29.95)

The authors apply baseball mathematics and statistics to arrive at the top 50 seasons by 50 of the greatest New York Yankees.

It’s a good read, but if you’re looking for a clear explanation of how Hageman and Wilbert can rank Joe DiMaggio’s 1941 season eighth (behind, among others, Rickey Henderson’s 1985 and Stuffy Stirnweiss’ 1945), forget it.

It’s easier to understand why they ranked Babe Ruth’s 1923 season his best.

Most baseball followers might think Ruth’s 60-home run season, 1927, or either his 1920 or ’21 seasons (54 and 59 home runs), when he achieved the two highest slugging percentages (.847 and .846) ever recorded, were his best. But the authors present a strong case for 1923.

Ruth was walked 170 times--still the major league record--in 1923, a year when he hit 41 home runs and drove in 131 runs, relatively low numbers for him.

Also, the authors say, Ruth had perhaps his best year as a right fielder in ’23. He threw out 20 baserunners, had 378 putouts and led American League right fielders with a .973 fielding average. And Ruth had a career-high on-base percentage that year of .545, the third-highest ever.

He led the American League that season in homers (41), runs (151), total bases (399), RBIs (131), walks (170), on-base percentage (.545) and slugging average (.764).

And you wonder if any hitter in history had an August to match Ruth’s that year. He was 40 for 80 and was hitting .401 when the month ended.

He hit .393 in the regular season, .368 in the World Series.