About a week ago, Amazon.com, due to a “software glitch,” had my book listed as Lord’s Day Cry by Robert Harris. Harris, who runs a website called Midnight Ministries, promsised to “simplify and make plain Christ’s initial return” in his book; all I was promising was the “inside story of how savvy management turned baseball’s ‘cursed’ team into world champions and how this success presented the biggest challenges of all.”

At the time, I thought this was a frustrating, if slightly humerous, mistake. And then I noticed that, in addition to all the places you’d expect (Red Sox blogs, Yankees blogs, baseball blogs, sports management blogs, etc.) Feeding the Monster was getting surprising traction on blogs written by men whose lives are shaped by their dedication to Christ.

There’s Bob Franquiz, the Lead Pastor of Calvary Fellowship, whose site is dedicated to “leadership, church, and your daily dose of vitamins and minerals.” Franquiz, who says that every year, he “like[s] to read a couple of fun, non-ministry related books,” writes about how he walked away from my book “reflecting on 3 values the team sees as part of its success: promote from within, trust is essential, and narrow your focus.” (Feeding the Monster prompted Franquiz to ask himself, “What’s my farm system? Who are the Triple-A up and coming leaders that are ready to hit the big leagues? Who are the next 4 or 5 people that God is raising up to join our staff?”)

There’s also Jim Gardner, the Preaching Minister for the Marble Falls Church of Christ, who runs a blog dedicated to “the simple musings of a man who is madly in love with his God, his life, his daughters, baseball, and turkey hunting.” Gardner doesn’t draw out any larger lessons in his review, but gives perhaps the best quote I could ever hope for: “For all you baseball fanatics, get your hands on a copy of Seth Mnookin’s Feeding the Monster. … Though I am not a Red Sox fan, I am a baseball fan and the recent history and success of the Boston franchise is impressive. From the sale of the team by the Yawkey estate to John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino to the building of the front office to the formation of organizational philosophy and the actual implementation of that philosophy on the field, it is an enlightening, behind-the-scenes tale that you’ll love.” Mr. Gardner, you may love your God, your family, baseball, and turkey hunting, but I love you. (In a totally platonic way, of course.)

Every night, I get asked at a reading what my target audience is, and every night I tell people I hope that baseball and sports fan will like it just as much as Red Sox fans. Jim Gardner and Bob Franquiz, thank you for spreading the Word.