Centerfield

Background

"Centerfield" is the B-side of "Rock And Roll Girls", the second single released off the third John Fogerty album Centerfield. Like all songs on the album, the title track was recorded at The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, and engineered by Jeffrey Norman and Mark Slagle. The single came out in March 1985, two months after the long-player. It peaked at #44 in the USA and #7 in the Netherlands. By early June 2013, the digital copy of the "Centerfield" song had sold 734,000 copies (Paul Grein, Week Ending June 2, 2013. Albums: The Return Of John Fogerty). 

After the members of Creedence Clearwater had won the years long court battle over their life savings in spring 1983, the burden lifted, and John Fogerty felt that he could finally create new music again. Fogerty recalled "Centerfield" was easy to write. He was walking around the house, "with one of those Rockman things that Tom Scholz [the founder of the band Boston] invented", and he came up with that guitar riff that starts the song. He went into the studio, playing the guitar with a drumbeat and it just came out. Despite all the easyness, Fogerty was nervous about combining baseball and rock music because sports songs just didn't qualify into rock-and-roll-lexicon (Ken Sharp, interview with John Fogerty, Record Collector #338, July 2007). 

Fogerty drew his inspiration from center field at Yankee Stadium in New York. When Fogerty was growing up on the West Coast, there was no Major League Baseball team to root for, and the closest thing his area had to a team was the New York Yankees which had San Francisco native Joe DiMaggio on their team (Brian Cronin, Sports Legend Revealed: Did John Fogerty write "Centerfield" after watching the 1984 All-Star game from the centerfield bleacher?, Los Angeles Times, June 8th, 2011).

"Centerfield" is also a metaphorical description about the career of John Fogerty and his comeback to the music business in mid-80's (Jim Caple, interview with John Fogerty, ESPN, May 26th, 2010).  

Recording session

After watching the baseball All-Star game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on the second week of July 1984, Fogerty booked the Plant Studios in Sausalito, California, and recorded six first tracks for the forthcoming Centerfield album. Fogerty played all the instruments by himself. Since he used detailed demos and notes, recording was straightforward and painless - except the "Centerfield" song.  He used a drum machine but had his real snare vibrate along with it. Fogerty was unsure about the sound and consulted the Warner Bros (his label) executives. They showed a green light and Fogerty headed back for The Plant Studios and recorded the rest of the album, including the title track (John Fogerty. Fortunate Son, 2015).

The baseball sound effect on the song was achieved by taping from a TV game and John putting the sound through a modifier (Kevin Cooper, Who'll Stop the Rain fan club magazine #7, June 1985). 

Trivia

Other baseball stars mentioned in the song beside Joe DiMaggio include Willie Mays and Ty Cobb, all of them center fielders.   

Fogerty quoted a line from Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" in the first verse of the song.  He even riffs off of Chuck Berry right at the moment. Fogerty also mentioned that he always pictured Jackie Robinson as the "brown eyed handsome man". (Ken Sharp, interview with John Fogerty, Record Collector #338, July 2007). 

The second verse refers to Mighty Casey from the epic poem "Casey At The Bat". 

The line "And you can tell that one good-bye" refers to "Tell it goodbye" trademark call of the former San Francisco Giants and A's announcer Lon Simmons (1923-2015).  

On Day 12 of the NASA Space Shuttle Mission STS-124, "Centerfield" was played for pilot Kenneth Ham (Wikipedia).

"Centerfield" was on the iPod of George W. Bush (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015). 

Collector's notes

Written by John Fogerty.

Recorded at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA, USA, in September 1984.

Appears on the Centerfield album and the "Rock And Roll Grirls" b/w "Centerfield" single.

Released on January 4th, 1985 (album, in the Netherlands), January 7th, 1985 (album, in the USA), February 8th, 1985 (album, in the UK) and March 1985 (single).

Spotify

The single (Warner-Pioneer P 1966) was released in Japan with a different cover sleeve on May 1985.  

"Rock And Roll Girls", coupled with "Centerfield", was also launched as a 12" maxi single (Bellaphon 120 07 140) in Germany in March 1985.   (Peter Koers, Green River: The Illustrated Discography, 1999).  

A 12" Vinyl Picture Disc of "Centerfield" was made available as a Record Store Day Exclusive on April 21, 2018.  

Video

The music video of "Centerfield" features black and white film material from vintage baseball games. 

Live versions

"Centerfield" has belonged to the setlist in almost each John Fogerty concert - ever since the 1986 Rockin' All Over the World Tour which was his first after the break-up of Creedence Clearwater. He usually performs the number after "Down on the Corner". In late summer 2010, concerts of Fogerty were kicked off with the "Centerfield" song when he promoted the 25th anniversary re-issue of the album. 

On the stage, Fogerty plays the song on his baseball-bat-shaped guitar "Slugger". He originally commissioned Philip Kubicki (1943-2013) to create this guitar.  Kubicki created the instrument with hidden tuners, three Seymour Duncan pickups, a shortened neck, and an actual Louisville Slugger brand stamped into it. After performing at the induction ceremony of the Baseball Hall of Fame on June 25th, 2010, Fogerty loaned the guitar he used only for this song to the Hall of Fame. 

The song appears on two John Fogerty concert DVDs: Premonition (1998) and The Long Road Home (2006). 

From the autumn tour 2013 on, soundboard recordings of the concerts of John Fogerty have been officially available as files.  

Historical live versions of "Centerfield" include the one John Fogerty and Doug Clifford played at the 20th reunion of the class of 1963 from the El Cerrito High School at the Concord Inn in El Cerrito, California, in 1988.

In the movies and TV series

"Centerfield" is heard in a half dozen of films:

It was also featured in a couple of TV series: 

Furthermore, episode 155 of the eighth season of the Grey's Anatomy was titled "Put Me In, Coach" but the song wasn't played.

Critical reception

"The album's good-natured title track is a delightful mixture of baseball lore and rock ambition - the tale of a veteran ballplayer who is looking forward to the new season." -Robert Hilburn, The Los Angeles Times, December 4th, 1984.  

"Forget "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" - this is the quintessential baseball song! Perhaps also my favorite John Fogerty song, but at least in the Top 3. I can't say enough great things about this - the rollicking guitar, the happy, joyous lyrics, the hand-clapping, the organ appearing at just the right times, and more!" -Matt Loewen

"If this cheerful song about America's Pastime can't make you happy, I wonder what will. The hand claps, organ, guitar, and other special effects all work to perfection." -Glenn J. Wiener

"The title song is upbeat and catchy with a choppy percussion effect leading the way before the full song kicks in with slide guitar, bouncy organ, and thumping bass. Fogerty’s vocals on “Centerfield” are at their finest on this album, even if the lyrics are slightly corny, and the chorus is its most melodic part." -Classic Rock Review, July 28th, 2015. 

Fans' views

"If you're an American, who wouldn't want to play Centerfield for the New York Yankees (Or First Base for the St. Louis Cardinals)? This song is a standard in the rich tradition of "Proud Mary". Baseball is timeless. This song is timeless. They will be playing it at baseball games long after we're all gone."

"Great in concert and it's much more than a baseball song, more a commentary on getting up and having a go."

"Absolutely no explanation needed on this song - baseball, rock and roll, maybe the song of the 80's released in 84, middle of the decade. Again, self defining as John wants to get back into the mix of things as he pleads to be put back into the game."

"This gets a LOT of play during baseball season in the US -- at the ballparks between innings, at commercial breaks on the radio during games. He's written a hit with baseball fans. So I think because this song's popularity and familiarity reaches a large group beyond the core fans of Fogerty or rock and roll, this song deserves to be one of his big ones."

"I've always loved baseball, and the pure joy of that song - that's what it really is, joy captured in a few minutes of music, with the catchy claps and the foot-stomping guitar lick - I just love that joy. Takes me to the ballpark, and back to when I was a kid, playing baseball, every time."

Legacy

"Centerfield" is one of the best-known baseball songs. It was honoured by the National Baseball Hall of Fame on June 25th, 2010. John Fogerty became the only musician to be celebrated in this ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. He also played the song in the ceremonies, with Willie Mays in attendance.    

The song is played frequently at the ballparks in the USA when teams take the field or in-between innings. During the games, the hand claps in the opening riff are often played on a loop.

"Centerfield" was called #13 in the critics' poll of the the best singles of the year 1984 in the Village Voice magazine.  

The song was voted as the third best John Fogerty piece of his solo career in a survey held by the John Fogerty Swamp Internet Mailing List in 1999. In a similar survey in 2005, the song ranked #2. 

In a survey covering the entire catalogue of John Fogerty (including Creedence Clearwater), "Centerfield" ranked  #20 in 2014. 

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