Tug McGraw Fighting For His Life

Phillyburbs.com ^ | 3/14/03 | Randy Miller

[Greg Luzinski]

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Former Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw was admitted Thursday to a Florida hospital, gravely ill with a brain tumor, a source said.

McGraw, 58, a star reliever when he played with the team, was the Phillies guest pitching instructor at spring training

The Phillies withheld details of McGraw's illness, saying only that he was undergoing tests at Morton Plant Hospital.

"I'm very concerned about Tug," Larry Bowa said Thursday. "We're praying for him."

Asked if he's going to visit McGraw, Bowa said, "From what I understand, I don't think he can have visitors right now."

McGraw has been with the Phillies throughout spring training and was in the dugout for Tuesday's game in Clearwater.

Earlier this week, former Phillies pitching coach Johnny Podres was admitted to Morton Plant with a collapsed lung. He's expected to be released soon.

"This has been a bad spring for that sort of thing," Bowa said.

Today was going to be a special day for McGraw. His son, country music star Tim McGraw, was scheduled to take batting practice with the Phillies this morning and play a concert tonight in Tampa. During the concert, Tug was going to join his son on stage and sing along to "I Like It, I Love It," his favorite Tim McGraw song.

McGraw forever will be remembered in Philadelphia as the pitcher who was on the mound when the Phillies won their first (and still only) World Series title in 1980.

The left-hander, who also won a World Series with the Mets, was 96-92 with a 3.14 ERA and 180 saves during a 20-year career in the majors with New York (1965-74) and Philadelphia (1975-84).

Randy Miller can be contacted via e-mail at rmiller@phillyburbs.com.

March 14, 2003 8:50 AM

[Greg Luzinski]

(Note: "Greg Luzinski" is a screen name. I'm not really him.) This one really hits home. Has lived for many years in the town I'm from in Pennsylvania. Every bit as warm, enthusiastic, generous and clever a guy behind the scenes as he is in public.

[The Wizard]

May the Good Lord Bless and Keep Tug and his family

[ken5050]

"Ya gotta believe!"

[Guillermo]

I remember watching Tug when I was a little kid...What a great team they had in the early 80's.

[ken5050]

Let's see....Gooden and Strawberry still alive...McGraw critical...go figure.....

[stanz]

I will always think of Tug as a Met.

[leadhead]

Thought the Phillies won the 1950 World Series with Roberts, Simmons, Ashburn, Ennis, Jones, etc.

[I still care]

I used to watch the Mets at Shea when young. He would throw his cap out from the little cart when coming out onto the field. What a memory.

[Mr. Bird]

Not only am I saddened about Tug, I'm absolutely stunned that I never heard he was Tim McGraw's dad.

[Mr. Bird]

Damn Yankees won that year.

[firewalk]

prayer bump

[jwalsh07]

Hoping for the best. Tug was a battler on the mound, no doubt about that.

[AgentEcho]

I'm with you. The 1980 NLCS between the Phillies and my Astros was one of the best series ever. 4 of the 5 games go into extra innings.

I cried when my Astros lost the series. I was 10 at the time.

Æ

[Lee Heggy]

Amen to that. The Lord is my shepard....

[dead]

Not only am I saddened about Tug, I'm absolutely stunned that I never heard he was Tim McGraw's dad.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think Tim heard about it until he was all growed up either.

[Greg Luzinski]

What my friend Steve just wrote via e-mail:

"I met him at several Phillies events, so I only had fan-player interactions with him (I know I have a picture or two of myself with him), and he always seemed like quite a nice guy. In 1993, there was a reunion of the 1980 Phillies and they were signing autographs. On the second
day, he showed up quite late and was wearing sunglasses. A bunch of the other players said, "There's the man of the evening," and started talking very loudly near his ears. He just covered up his head, apparently suffering quite a hangover. And he kept the sunglasses on, but every
time someone wanted a picture, he took them off, bloodshot eyes and all. (And he always signs his autograph with a smiley face at the end.) I remember sitting near him at the Down Home Diner in the Reading Terminal Market one time in the early 1990s. Fans kept coming up to him and saying hi, and even though he was eating, he was very gracious to every one.

Did any of you see him in the winter of 1980-81 when he was doing his rendition of Casey at the Bat with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops? He made an appearance at a mall in Reading and performed it, then stayed around for hours afterward to sign autographs and meet people. Since the
Phillies had just won the World Series, I think all of Reading was there. I remember having to stand in a store behind the stage to be able to see him.

I really hope he pulls through this. I was looking forward to seeing him catch that ball dropped from a helicopter by Bill Giles at the Vet's final opener. He was practicing it with Giles a few days ago, I remember reading. He was going to catch it behind his back--apparently he caught two out of three that way successfully during the practice.

He's definitely one of the good guys of baseball.

[cherry]

"I could be wrong, but I don’t think Tim heard about it until he was all growed up either"

I think his mother always claimed that Tug was the dad...so he knew early on,,,but I don't know if there was any hands on fatherhood....

[WSGilcrest]

Tug McGraw:

The Early Years

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1956. Tug McGraw, 12-years old, was playing for the Vallejo Police on the Junior Peanuts All Star Team.

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In addition to working as a barber for his classmates, Tug was involved in a variety of school activities. He graduated from St. Vincent's High School in 1962.

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Here's Tug (top right corner) posing with the St. Vincent's Altar Boys.	Here is Tug (bottom left corner) with the St. Vincent's Letterman society.
Three St. Vincent's pitchers before a game. (Tug is on the right)	Tug was also President of the Spanish Club.

Tug was one of the leads in the High School operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Gondoliers"
(standing at right)

[ewing]

I remeber Tug in the 1980 World Series in the clutch.

[dead]

I believe Tim grew up thinking his mother's husband was his father. He eventually found out the truth when he found his birth certificate and his mother fessed up.

Tug never paid child support.

But Tim forgave him apparently, so it's no skin off my nose.

I hope Tug gets better real soon. Ya gotta believe!