On Saturday, October 31, the country singer Tim McGraw, threw the ceremonial pitch before the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals took the field at Game 4 of the World Series in NYC.
The ritual held a prolific amount of meaning, he did it to honor his late father,Tug McGraw, a legendary relief pitcher for the New York Mets.
"Ya Gotta Believe," is a phrase Tug McGraw coined that he is best remembered for. It also became a popular rallying cry for the New York Mets. In the 1980 World Series, he recorded the final out via a strikeout of the Kansas City Royals' Willie Wilson bringing the Philadelphia Phillies their first world championship. He was the last active major league player to have played under manager Casey Stengel.
Tim revealed that his relationship with his father while growing up was not all that good, and he's been open about this. He actually didn't know that Tug was his biological father until he was 11-year-old.
In May 2013, McGraw told Larry King this, "I didn’t know he was my dad. I was 11 years old and was rummaging around in my mom’s closet and found a birth certificate. My last name was Smith. On my birth certificate, McGraw was scratched out and Smith was written in by hand." He was already 18 when they got the chance to bond with his dad.
On March 12, 2003, McGraw was working as an instructor for the Phillies during Spring training when he was hospitalized with a brain tumor.
When the surgery was performed to remove it, initial reports suggested that the surgery had been successful, that McGraw's chances for recovery were "excellent"and that he was supposed to live "a long time".
After the initial surgery, McGraw lived for over nine months.
However, the tumor was not totally excised during the surgery and the malignancy returned in inoperable form.
During the game, Tim holds more than just memories of his father's baseball career as he also has a very special hand-me-down from Tug's championship run.
Tim is married to fellow country singer Faith Hill. Together, they have three daughters Gracie Katherine, Maggie Elizabeth and Audrey Caroline.
McGraw holds a private pilot license and owns a single-engine Cirrus SR22.
