Happy Baseball Birthday...John Fogerty

"...put me in coach, I'm ready to play today....put me in coach, I'm ready to play today, I can be Centerfield. " ...John Fogerty, Centerfield 


John Fogerty sang those lyrics on his song, Centerfield, on the album by the same day, in 1985, and a baseball anthem was born.

John Fogerty  was born in Berkley, California on May 28, 1945, and that makes him today's Happy Baseball Birthday!


John and brother Jim were surrounded by baseball growing up in the mid-late 1950s, and Jim was a bat boy for the Oakland Oaks team that played in the Pacific Coast League.

The New York Giants relocation to San Francisco in 1958 allowed the boys to watch the great Willie Mays play centerfield with the Giants, but before they got to the West Coast young John was already a fan of the New York Yankees after hearing stories about the Yankees, the great Babe Ruth, and two centerfielders, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.



Some three decades later Fogerty, now a solo musician after playing in the rock band Credence Clearwater Revival, penned the song Centerfield, which shot to #1 on the charts.

In 2010 Fogerty agreed to play Centerfield at the summer inductions into the Baseball Hall of Fame for the songs 25th anniversary.

Fogerty, of course, made that day in Cooperstown extra special by using his baseball bat guitar, which he named slugger.

John Fogerty turns 71 today, but when I saw him on The Dan Patrick Show last October 8th in New York City Fogerty looked pretty darn good.


Fogerty may be 71, but there's no retired for the musician, who continues to tour throughout the summer and fall.




Happy Baseball Birthday! ⚾🎂 to legendary musician John Fogerty. 



Play Ball! ⚾