Tug McGraw

Major League Baseball relief pitcher Tug McGraw best remembered for recording the final out, via a strikeout of the Kansas City Royals' Willie Wilson, in the 1980 World Series, bringing the Philadelphia Phillies their first world championship. He was one of the sport's most exuberant and popular figures during the 1970s and 1980s and the last active major league player to have played under manager Casey Stengel.

He was born Frank Edwin McGraw on August 30, 1944 in Martinez, California to Frank Edwin "Big Mac" McGraw, Sr. and Mable McKenna. He got the nickname "Tug" from his mother because of the particularly aggressive way he breast-fed. Frank Senior was the great-grandson of Irish immigrants. The future Major League Baseball legend grew up in Vallejo, California, where he played ball for St. Vincent Ferrer High School. His nickname dated back to infancy and his insistent feeding habits. After a stint on the team at Vallejo Junior College, he was signed to the New York Mets in 1964 as a free agent, and played with the Mets' farm team for a season. He emerged as a top-notch left-handed pitcher with a good fast-ball and solid curveball, but a third throw was necessary to advance him out of the minors, and so McGraw perfected the screwball pitch, which would become his trademark.

McGraw went on to help the Mets win the 1969 World Series, but it was in the build-up to the 1973 post-season that his signature phrase, "Ya gotta believe!" was coined. In August of that year, the Mets were down more than eleven games, and after a particularly bad performance, Mets chair M. Donald Grant delivered a torrid locker-room lecture to the chastened team. Coming out of the meeting, McGraw was said to have uttered the phrase, poking fun of Grant's pep talk, but his teammates burst out laughing and they went on to a winning streak that landed them in the World Series. Though the Mets lost to Oakland in seven games, "Ya gotta believe!" became the catchphrase of the season and would remain indelibly associated with McGraw's high-spirited personality.

McGraw amassed a solid record as a pitcher, though he admitted that the pressures of performing as a relief pitcher occasionally unnerved him. "Coming into a game, my knees always feel weak," he admitted to New York Times columnist Dave Anderson. "I have to push off the mound harder." Known for his spontaneous quips and graciousness to his fans, McGraw became one of the sport's most beloved figures of the times. "He wore his sandy hair long," noted New York Times writer Frank Litsky, "and with his little-boy face and boyish enthusiasm he was a crowd favorite. After a third out, he would run off the mound, slapping his glove against a thigh. After a close call, he would pat his heart." Traded to Philadelphia in 1974, he went on to help the franchise take East Division titles in 1976, 1977, and 1978, and the National League pennant in 1980 and 1983. But it was Game Six of the Phillies' World Series race in 1980 that would define McGraw's career and make him a hero forever in his adopted home-town: in the ninth inning, with bases loaded, he struck out batter Kansas City's Willie Wilson, and the Phillies won the World Series pennant for the first time in Major League history.

The photograph taken just after that moment showed McGraw jumping off his mound, hands high in the air, and became one of the classic images in sports history. Another timeless photo was captured just seconds later, when Phillies third-base player Mike Schmidt jumped into his arms on the mound. Schmidt later said the two had planned it on their ride to Veterans Stadium that night. "Both of us knew whoever was on or near that mound for the final out would probably be on the cover of Sports Illustrated, " Schmidt told the same publication. "Sure enough, it worked. Tug struck out Wilson and then turned to look at me at third base. Of course I came running and jumped on him."

The 1984 season was McGraw's last in baseball. He retired with a 96-92 record and a 3.14 earned-run average. He became a television reporter for a Philadelphia station, wrote three children's books, and remained a fan favorite. The father of two sons and a daughter, he belatedly discovered his fourth and oldest child after an eleven-year-old Louisiana boy came across his birth certificate. Tim Smith was an ardent baseball fan, and was stunned to find the name of one of his heroes in the space on the document that listed the father's name. Smith, who later took his father's name, was the product of a romance between McGraw and Betty Trimble that occurred during his minor-league career, and McGraw had never known of the boy's existence. McGraw and his long-lost son enjoyed a close relationship, and Tim McGraw grew up to become a country-music legend and husband of Faith Hill, another Nashville star.

McGraw was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March of 2003 while working at Phillies spring-training camp in Clearwater, Florida, as a special instructor. He underwent surgery in Tampa, after which his doctors—a team of top specialists assembled and paid for by his son, Tim—believed they had eradicated it completely, but a wait-and-see policy was in place when McGraw next appeared in public again on May 29. "I'm not fearful," McGraw told reporters in a characteristically upbeat mood, according to a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service report by Paul Hagen. "I have confidence." He went to work on his autobiography, which carried the not-unexpected working title, Ya Gotta Believe! .

In September of 2003, McGraw reprised his 1980 World Series moment at the closing ceremonies at Veterans' Stadium in Philadelphia, which was slated for demolition in March of 2004. He had hoped to be there for the demolition, but on December 31, 2003, he suffered a seizure, and died six days later at a cabin in Franklin, Tennessee, near the home of his son, Tim, and family. His former Philly teammate Schmidt told Sports Illustrated that McGraw accepted his fate with the same attitude that had made him such a favorite among players and fans alike. "Publicly, he never let on that he had gotten a raw deal," Schmidt noted. "As he always said, 'I front-loaded my life, just like my contract.'"

• Sources: Wikipedia, Biography, Encyclopedia of World Biography

Major League Baseball Player. He played Major League baseball as a pitcher for 19 seasons from 1965 to 1984 with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. A zany free spirit relief specialist who came to epitomize the love of the game as well as never-say-die determination, he arrived in the Majors with the Mets in 1965, appearing in 37 games for a franchise that was quickly pulling itself out of the expansion doldrums it had been mired in its first few years. A part of the 1969 "Miracle Mets," he won 9 games, lost 2, and saved 12 as the Mets surprised the National League by winning the Pennant. He appeared in one game in the inaugural National League Championship Series, and sat on the bench as the Mets convincingly defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 4 games to 1 in the World Series. Although an occasional spot starter, he was firmly entrenched in his relief role by 1970, and by 1972 he was the established closer on the team. That year he saved 27 games (second only to the Reds Clay Carroll's 37), and was named to the NL All-Star team. In that year's Mid-Summer Classic, he pitched a perfect top of the 10th inning, and, when the Reds' Joe Morgan knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th, he was credited for the win (Jon Matlack in 1975 would be the only other Met to win an All-Star Game). In 1973 he saved another 25 games, helping the Mets to the Eastern Division title. During that season he coined the phrase "You Gotta Believe," which became the motto for the team. Unlike 1969, however, he would play a prominent role in the team's postseason. He appeared in two games in the NLCS against the Cincinnati Reds, and pitched a scoreless 9th inning in Game 5 to close the door on the NL Pennant for New York. The subsequent World Series against the Oakland A's went the whole 7 games, with the A's taking the Series 4 Games to 3. Tug McGraw appeared in 5 games, winning Game 2 in relief, and saving Game 5. After the 1974 season he was sent to the Philadelphia Phillies in a six player deal. He promptly continued his relief specialist role for his new team, saving 14 games in 1975, and being selected to another NL All-Star team. He became the heart of the bullpen for a Phillies team that reached the post-season six times over eight seasons, and reached his nadir with the 1980 team. He saved 20 games for the Phillies that year, and helped them first to a National League East crown, then a NLCS victory to secure the team's first NL Pennant in 30 years (saving 2 of the Phils 3 wins). In the following World Series against the Kansas City Royals he appeared in 4 games, saving 2 games, winning Game 2, and losing Game 3. However, in Game 6 he enacted the greatest moment in the 120+ year history of the Phillies up to that point when he pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the eighth inning, and retired the side in the ninth, striking out the Royals' Willie Wilson to give the Phils their first World Series championship. He pitched four more years with the Phillies, helping them to the 1983 World Series (where he voluntarily left himself off the postseason roster) before retiring. After his player days he appeared in numerous television spots in the Philadelphia area while filling various roles on and off the field in the Phillies organization, and grew to be one of the most beloved figures in the city. In early 2003 he was diagnosed with brain cancer, and was given only a few months to live. Using his trademark optimism and humor, he lived far past his initial diagnosed time, and partook in the September 2003 closing ceremonies of Veterans Stadium (where he recreated his 1980 World Series strikeout to a roaring, cheering crowd). When he finally passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, in January 2004, he was in the home of his son, country music megastar Tim McGraw. His lifetime record was 96 wins-92 losses, 824 games pitched, 180 saves (94 with the Phillies – 6th all-time for the team), 1,109 strikeouts and a 3.14 earned run average. During his career, he gained a reputation as being a carefree, quotable player with lines such as "Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish whiskey. The other 10 percent I'll probably waste." (in reference to his World Series share).

Bio by: RPD2

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