{"id":27625,"date":"1988-04-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"1988-04-09T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=27625"},"modified":"2026-02-08T19:38:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T03:38:48","slug":"matr-bruce-springsteen-and-john-fogerty-centerfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/04\/09\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-john-fogerty-centerfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Centerfield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are 338 members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>But only one artist has been honored by the <em>Baseball<\/em> Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n<p>That honor belongs to lifelong baseball fan John Fogerty and his 1985 hit single, &#8220;Centerfield.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xq3hEMUeBGQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Centerfield&#8221; didn&#8217;t make the Top 40 when it was released (it peaked at #44), but it quickly became a standard in just about every American ballpark, where crowds clap, sing, and dance along between innings.<\/p>\n<p>As beloved as &#8220;Centerfield&#8221; has become, it was still something of a surprise to see it featured as a nightly set list staple when Fogerty joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on their Vote for Change Tour in October 2004.<\/p>\n<p>That tour had a decidedly political message, with tight and carefully constructed sets designed to spur activism from an audience that was perhaps politically aligned with John and Bruce but not necessarily inclined to get out and vote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Fortunate Son,&#8221; was a lock of course, as was John&#8217;s latest single, &#8220;Deja Vu All Over Again.&#8221; But &#8220;Centerfield&#8221; was a curveball&#8211;although perhaps it shouldn&#8217;t have been, since Bruce is known to be quite the lifelong baseball fan himself.<\/p>\n<p>The chance to perform &#8220;Centerfield&#8221; with the song&#8217;s original artist was probably too tempting to pass up, and the song became Fogerty&#8217;s first number upon taking the stage each night.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ExdLcwIZdsk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Six years later, Fogerty was surprised to learn his song had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame&#8211;surprised mostly because the Hall of Fame had never honored a song or musician before.<\/p>\n<p>When asked for his reaction to the news in an interview at the time, Fogerty deadpanned:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It came out of left field.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Centerfield<br \/>\nFirst performed:<\/strong> October 1, 2004 (Philadelphia, PA)<br \/>\n<strong>Last performed:<\/strong> October 13, 2004 (East Rutherford, NJ)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 June 22, 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bruce performed the only song enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame nightly with its original artist during the Vote for Change Tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,3609,5],"tags":[3224,694],"class_list":["post-27625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-me","category-little-help","category-meeting-across-the-river","tag-centerfield","tag-john-fogerty"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/centerfield.jpg?fit=1940%2C1817&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-7bz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19493,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/04\/19\/matr-john-fogerty-and-bruce-springsteen-deja-vu-all-over-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":0},"title":"Deja Vu (All Over Again)","author":"Ken","date":"April 19, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"When America found itself enmeshed in an unpopular foreign war (again), John Fogerty met the moment. On the Vote For Change Tour, the E Street Band backed Fogerty each night for his comeback track.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dejavu.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dejavu.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dejavu.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dejavu.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/dejavu.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13795,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/08\/23\/matr-john-fogerty-and-bruce-springsteen-fortunate-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":1},"title":"Fortunate Son","author":"Ken","date":"August 23, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"Bruce teamed up with John Fogerty on \"Fortunate Son\" nightly during 2004's Vote for Change Tour, but that wasn't the first time Bruce covered John's anti-war anthem. Listen to rare early bar performances inside.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Fortunate-Son-Main.jpg?fit=1173%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Fortunate-Son-Main.jpg?fit=1173%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Fortunate-Son-Main.jpg?fit=1173%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Fortunate-Son-Main.jpg?fit=1173%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Fortunate-Son-Main.jpg?fit=1173%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25938,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/19\/matr-john-fogerty-and-bruce-springsteen-born-on-the-bayou\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":2},"title":"MatR: John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen: Born on the Bayou","author":"Ken","date":"April 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"One time only: Bruce Springsteen and John Fogerty trade lead vocals on a smoking performance of \"Born on the Bayou\" at the 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/bornbayou.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/bornbayou.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/bornbayou.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/bornbayou.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30011,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/07\/25\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-john-fogerty-green-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":3},"title":"Green River","author":"Ken","date":"July 25, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"It took four decades and seven private priors, but Bruce finally debuted \"Green River\" on the E Street stage with its songwriter, John Fogerty.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/greenriver.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/greenriver.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/greenriver.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/greenriver.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/greenriver.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40929,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/09\/13\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-john-fogerty-bad-moon-rising\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":4},"title":"Bad Moon Rising","author":"Ken","date":"September 13, 1988","format":false,"excerpt":"Springsteen has covered John Fogerty's signature song seven times over the years. Check them all out here.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/badmoon.jpg?fit=1013%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/badmoon.jpg?fit=1013%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/badmoon.jpg?fit=1013%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/badmoon.jpg?fit=1013%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55605,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/kingdom-of-days-january-17-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":27625,"position":5},"title":"January 17","author":"Ken","date":"January 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Bruce joins The Who on stage, plays a \"surprise\" Light of Day set, and more.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lodjam.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lodjam.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lodjam.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lodjam.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lodjam.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27625"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66665,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27625\/revisions\/66665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}