Singer Tim McGraw Reveals How He Discovered His Favorite Baseball Star Tug McGraw Was Actually His Father

Singer Tim McGraw revealed the way he discovered his biological father was professional baseball player Tug McGraw in a recent interview.

Speaking on Fresh Air Tuesday, McGraw recalled that up until the age of 11, he believed his name was Tim Smith. “It was totally by accident. My stepdad and my mom divorced and we had just moved — I guess it was about six months after the divorce.”

“We’d moved in with my grandparents for a little while, then we finally moved into a house in rural Louisiana. And I was going through her closet for some reason, and I found a box and when I opened the box my birth certificate was in the box,” McGraw remembers.

“Everything was printed out on it. Except for the last name, there was just one line through it in pen, in ink pen, just one line, and then ‘Smith’ written in cursive above it. But it had my dad’s full name and his occupation was ‘Professional Baseball Player’ and it was pretty much a shock,” he said.

“I thought there had to have been some mistake,” McGraw said. “Oddly enough, I had three baseball cards on my wall.”

“The third one was Tug. Cause he was one of my favorite players believe it or not,” he said.

His father was a standout player for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

McGraw said that his mother was very forthcoming with the information regarding his father and even agreed to help him meet Tug in person. “She had gotten in touch with his lawyer, I believe, and said that I had found out,” he said.

McGraw then recalls the first meeting, “We drove to Houston and he had left us a couple tickets and we got to go into the game before and watch batting practice and I remember tossing the ball with him for a little bit.”

“The next year, I wanted to go back and see him and of course, mom being a good, great mom, she arranged to get tickets and we drove to Houston again and she had gotten me a McGraw shirt with Philly’s colors and it had the name on the back and his number and everything,” McGraw recalled.

“He was in the bullpen,” McGraw said.

“I remember going over there, standing right in front and yelling ‘Hey, Tug it’s Tim, I’m back’ and he ignored me the whole time and that was the last time I saw him,” he concluded as his voice broke.

The two would go on to reconnect when McGraw turned 18.

Listen above via Fresh Air.

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