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The McGraw family is full of talent. While Tim McGraw is a Grammy-winning country music star, his father was a World Series-winning pitcher. Tim attended Game 3 of the World Series on November 1 and rocked his father’s Phillies jersey. His late father, Tug McGraw, won a World Series with the Phillies in 1980.
The 55-year-old stood up during the game and turned around to show off his jersey while sitting with wife Faith Hill and their 3 daughters. The jumbotron video showed Tim raising his right hand in support of the Phillies while wearing #45, his father’s jersey number. The crowd roared with applause over Tim’s support. The Phillies and Astros are currently tied in the Series 2-2. They will play in Game 5 on November 3.
Tug was a two-time World Series winner. He won his first World Series in 1969 with the New York Mets, and then again in 1980 with the Phillies. Tug notably struck out Willie Wilson to help seal the Phillies’ first World Series championship. The pitcher retired at age 40. Tug passed away in 2004 due to brain cancer.
Tim and his father had a complicated history. Back in 2013, Tim revealed to Larry King that he didn’t know his father’s identity until he was 11 years old. “I didn’t know he was my dad,” Tim said. “I was 11 years old, and I was rummaging around in mom’s closet and found a birth certificate. I was growing up in Louisiana, and my mom was divorced, and we were barely getting by.”
But the “Humble and Kind” singer never had any bad blood towards his father. “People ask me, ‘How could you have a relationship with your father? You were growing up in nothing,” the singer told Esquire. “He was a millionaire baseball player. He knew you were there, and he didn’t do anything.’ But when I found out Tug McGraw was my dad, it gave me something in my little town in Louisiana, something that I would have never reached for. How could I ever be angry?”