John Fogerty will have his baseball bat-shaped guitar added to the exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum following the induction ceremonies on July 25th. This marks the first time in history that the Museum will immortalize a musician as part of the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, which for more than a decade has been kicked off with the playing of the sport's unofficial anthem, Fogerty's classic song "Centerfield." But the famed bat almost didn't make it to Cooperstown.
John Fogerty comments, "That guitar means a lot to me. It's symbolizes two of my great loves, baseball and the guitar. When 'Centerfield' came out, it was after a long break and was such an important album to me on many levels. The lessons of baseball - the hits, the misses, the triumphs, and the losses - were something that I could really relate to in my life. So I got this idea to make a baseball bat guitar and of course, it had to be a Louisville Slugger. Well, there's nothing else like it in the world, and I think 'Slugger' will be happy at the Baseball Hall of Fame. "
The guitar, "Slugger," crafted by Philip Kubicki, had been in a storage facility this past May when storms struck Nashville, causing the Cumberland River to overflow, killing nearly thirty. Along with equipment owned by some of the music industry's best-known artists, Fogerty's bat-shaped guitar lay underwater in the facility for nearly five days before anyone could enter the building. Currently being restored, Fogerty will be reunited with his precious guitar for the first time after the floods when he takes "Centerfield" to perform in Cooperstown.
Celebrating the return of the 25th anniversary of the 1985 album, Centerfield - 25th Anniversary Edition (Geffen/UMe), was released on June 29 and features the original album, digitally remastered, and adds a pair of rare B-side bonus tracks--covers of the Rockin' Sydney '80s hit "My Toot Toot" and the '50s R&B/doo wop gem "I Confess."
Dedicated to a character in a favorite children's record of Fogerty's and to "dreams that survive," Centerfield is about childhood, family and growing up. And like baseball itself, a love of which is passed down from generation to generation, Centerfield has become an album shared across generations.
Fogerty is a quintuple threat: songwriter, singer, lead guitarist, arranger and producer. Centerfield, which Fogerty produced and for which he played every instrument, is as American as apple pie and, well, baseball. Eagerly anticipated and long-awaited, Centerfield was Fogerty's second album since his 1973 solo debut, The Blue Ridge Rangers, which followed his exit from Creedence Clearwater Revival.
