A.J. Brown Turned a Self-Help Book Into a No. 1 Bestseller

A.J. Brown’s biggest impact Sunday might have been on book sales.

The star Eagles wide receiver had only one catch for 10 yards in his team’s 22–10 wild-card win over the Packers.

But late in the game, Brown was spotted by Fox cameras reading a book on the sideline. It was later identified as the self-help book Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy.

After the game, Brown said the self-help book is referred to as “The Recipe” by his teammates because he regularly has consulted it in-game throughout this season. 

Some of his teammates were skeptical about its heavy use. 

“I’ve never seen him read,” Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said after the game. “I’ve seen the book in his hands … everybody finds their flow in different ways.”

“It gives me a sense of peace,” Brown told reporters. “That’s a book I bring every single game. … It’s something like how I refresh every drive regardless if I score a touchdown or drop a pass, I always go back to that book every drive and just refocus.”

Brown posted his copy to social media, which was tattered and worn, and the highlighted passages he regularly reads. 

“We’ve all had times when everything came together in perfect harmony: sacred moments, when we were totally immersed in the experience and felt fully alive,” one highlighted passage read.

By Monday morning, the book was No. 1 in sales on Amazon. On Saturday, it had ranked No. 552,709 on the same list, according to Amazon’s public data. 

Eagles fans flooded the book reviews on Amazon, acknowledging Brown while doing so. 

“AJ Brown recommended this book, so I’m looking forward to reading this,” a user named Todd wrote. “Fly Eagles Fly.”

Murphy, the book’s author, is a former minor league player with the Chicago Cubs, who had to retire due to vision issues in 1996 while he was playing in an independent league. The 57-year-old was in a Dallas hotel room Sunday night watching a rerun of the Penn State–Notre Dame college football semifinal when his phone started going off. 

It was then he realized he may have had the wrong game on. 

“It’s been a pretty amazing night,” Murphy told Front Office Sports. “I glanced at my phone and saw a bunch of messages and was like, ‘What is this all about?’”

Murphy said after his baseball career ended he had an identity crisis, which prompted him to move to Tucson, Ariz., and “do away” with a lot of his material possessions. He became a performance coach and after his early clients started having success, he decided to make a manual for the work he was doing. 

Murphy told FOS he sank his life savings into finishing the book and says he wound up $90,000 in debt as a result of it. 

The book was originally published in 2009, and Murphy released an updated version in 2020. Murphy told FOS his career changed after the caddie of Swedish golfer Henrik Stenson read the book and asked him to come work with Stenson. Shortly after reading the book, Stenson won the FedEx Cup in 2013. He went on to add PGA Tour golfer Hunter Mahan and Yum Brands CEO David Novak, as clients, which he says helped him get out of debt. 

“The sales [before Sunday] were nothing to speak of,” Murphy said to FOS. “It wasn’t on the New York Times bestseller list or anything like that.”

Murphy released another book in November called The Best Possible Life, and he said he’s been hearing from literary agents Monday as well as public speaking opportunities. As of Monday, The Best Possible Life is No. 1 on Amazon’s list for “Psychology and Christianity,” but isn’t in the top 100 of overall book sales on the site.

“Not a lot of sleep,” he joked. 

Murphy said he doesn’t have a relationship with Brown but plans to reach out soon. He told Sports Illustrated he has a theory as to how Brown got hold of his book. His friend DJ Giaritelli is the director of Austin Athletes in Action, a religious group for student-athletes. Giaritelli gave a copy of the book to Eagles nose tackle and former Texas star Moro Ojomo, who gave it to Brown. Brown turned it into a bestseller. 

He hopes Brown isn’t the last member of the team to read it, either. 

“I want the Eagles to be well and I want the whole team to learn what A.J.’s learning,” Murphy told FOS.