S.O.D. "Centerfield" John Fogerty

4/18/2015     Also known as "Put Me In Coach,"  The tune is still played at baseball  diamonds across the United States. In 2010 John Fogerty became the only musician to be celebrated at the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cooperstown, New York.  Fogerty was born in 1945 in Berkeley California and during his youth there were no West Coast baseball teams to cheer for.  He therefore got his inspiration for the song from the New York Yankees centerfield position by watching it on TV. The Yankees were the closest thing to him as a team since their centerfielder at the time, Joe DiMaggio was a San Francisco native.  Fogerty remembers watching the games imagining he was a rookie on the bench and yelling at the TV "put me in coach put me in".  

     He wrote the song after leaving CCR, creating two solo albums and taking a 10 year break from music.  Fogerty began his musical career in 1959 with a four piece outfit called Tom Fogerty and the Blue Velvets in which his brother Tom, led the band.  Then in 1965 they signed with the label Fantasy and became the Golliwogs.  After being drafted in 1966 and serving a little over a year in the military, they regrouped in 1967, changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival and John took his brother's place as lead singer.  In 1971 Tom Fogerty left the band when differences arose.  Bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford were also in disagreement with Fogerty regarding many issues and the group disbanded in 1972. Fogerty is ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine #40 on their list of the Greatest Guitarists of All Time and #72 on the Greatest Singers of All Time list.