Tim McGraw barely knew his famous father, says Stephen Rodrick in Men’s Journal. The country music star was told as a child that his father was his waitress mother’s first husband, a truck driver. But when he was 11, he came across his birth certificate and learned that his mother had conceived him out of wedlock with the legendary New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher “Tug” McGraw. He met his father soon afterward, but Tug essentially told Tim he wanted nothing to do with him. Over the years, Tug didn’t respond to his letters or phone calls, even after Tim legally changed his surname in an attempt to forge a connection. The low point came when he watched TV coverage of the Phillies’ 1980 World Series victory. “Tug was in the locker room, covered in champagne, and he said, ‘I want to say hello to my children, Mark and Carrie.’ I collapsed on the couch.” Eventually, as Tug grew older and Tim launched his singing career, the retired pitcher did start spending some time with his son. In 2004, as Tug was dying of brain cancer, he wanted Tim by his side. “I remember sitting there, waiting for him to say something, apologize, but he never did. I realized he wasn’t capable. I’ve forgiven him and made my peace with it,” he says, his eyes tearing. “Knowing he was my father changed the possibility of who I could be. He didn’t intentionally give that to me, but he gave it to me.”
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