Tug McGraw died today. He was the son of Hall of Famer John McGraw and the father of country music legend Tim McGraw. Tug's baseball career was long (19 years), but largely unrecognized. He spent his first nine years playing for the Mets, and his last ten with the Phillies. In 1972 and 1973, he finished second in the National League in saves with 27 and 25 respectively. He made his first of two All-Star teams in '72 (the other in 1975), and in '73 his performance helped the Mets to a National League championship and an eventual World Series loss to Oakland. Between the 1973 and 1974 seasons, he was traded along with two guys you never heard of to the Phillies for three guys you never heard of. His finest season came in 1980, a year he helped give the Phillies their only World Series title. In that 1980 season he saved 20 games and had a staggering 1.46 ERA in 92.3 innings - a performance that was good enough to earn him 5th in the Cy Young voting. He retired after the 1984 season with a career record of 96 and 92, 180 saves, 1,109 strikeouts in 1,515 innings, and a 3.14 ERA.
Posted by at January 5, 2004 08:39 PMi don't believe Tug was the son of John McGraw. Sad, but not his son...
Posted by: bill colrus at January 5, 2004 10:39 PMThanks for pointing that out. I've been operating under that assumption for along time, and now you can't imagine how red my face is. I checked it out: Tug was born in 1944, John died in 1934. Either your right, or it's a case for the paternal record book.
Posted by: the booth at January 6, 2004 07:33 PMNo biggie. It's tough to diss someone who likes baseball (it looks like) as much as I do.
Posted by: bill colrus at January 7, 2004 12:14 AMIn addition to the disparity in dates as already pointed out (John McGraw died in 1934; Tug McGraw was born in 1944), Tug's real name was Frank Edwin McGraw JUNIOR.
Posted by: Dan O'Brien at April 23, 2005 07:53 AM