Tug McGraw
Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. (August 30, 1944 – January 5, 2004) was an American professional baseball relief pitcher and long-time Major League Baseball (MLB) player, often remembered for coining the phrase "Ya Gotta Believe", which became the rallying cry for the 1973 New York Mets and has since become a popular slogan for the team and fans.[1]
Tug McGraw
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96–92
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1965–1971
Infantry
McGraw recorded the final out of the 1980 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, striking out Willie Wilson to bring the Philadelphia Phillies their first World Series championship, ending the Phillies' 77-year drought.[2][3][4] He was the last active big league player to have played under manager Casey Stengel.
Early life[edit]
Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. was born August 30, 1944, in Martinez, California,[4] northeast of San Francisco, to Frank Edwin "Big Mac" McGraw Sr. and Mable McKenna. McGraw got the nickname "Tug" from his mother because of the particularly aggressive way he breast-fed.[5][6] Frank Sr. was the great-grandson of Irish immigrants. After his divorce in the early 1950s, Frank Sr. moved his three sons to nearby Vallejo, and Tug graduated from St. Vincent Ferrer High School in Vallejo in 1962.
Professional career[edit]
Minor leagues[edit]
On June 12, 1964, McGraw signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent upon graduation. McGraw was used both as a starting pitcher and out of the bullpen in the minors.
New York Mets (1965–1967, 1969–1974)[edit]
After less than one season in the Mets' farm system at Cocoa Beach, Florida, and Auburn, New York, where he went 6–4 with a 1.64 earned run average in Rookie and class A ball, McGraw made the Mets out of Spring training in 1965 at age 20, without ever having played double- or triple-A ball. Soon after, when asked if he preferred the new AstroTurf on the field at the Houston Astrodome to real grass, he said, "I don't know, I never smoked AstroTurf."[1][10][11]
McGraw made the team as a reliever, and was 0–1 with a 3.12 ERA and one save when he made his first major league start on July 28 against the Chicago Cubs in the second game of a double header at Wrigley Field. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning and gave up three earned runs on his way to a 9–0 loss (the Cubs blew the Mets out in the first game as well, 7–2).[12] On August 22, in his second start, also in the second game of a double header, only this time against the St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium, McGraw pitched a complete game to earn his first major league win.[13] He won his next start as well, 5–2 over Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers.[14] It marked the first time the Mets had ever beaten the future Hall of Famer. McGraw remained in the Mets' starting rotation for the remainder of the season, however, failed to log another win, going 2–6 as a starter, and 0–1 in relief.
The Mets used McGraw as a starter again in 1966, and he was 2–9 with a 5.52 ERA in that role. Though he also made four starts with the Mets in 1967, McGraw spent most of the season, and all of 1968 in the minor leagues with the Jacksonville Suns. By the time he returned to the Mets in 1969, manager Gil Hodges had a very capable young pitching rotation that included Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Gary Gentry and had no need for McGraw as a starter until Koosman went down with an injury in May. McGraw went 1–1 with a 5.23 ERA filling in for Koosman.
Koosman returned to the rotation at the end of the month and on May 28, after a five-game losing streak that saw the Mets fall into fourth place in the newly aligned National League East, Koosman and the expansion San Diego Padres' Clay Kirby engaged in a pitchers' duel at Shea. After nine scoreless innings by Kirby and ten by Koosman, the game was turned over to the bullpens for extra innings. The game finally ended after 11 innings when Bud Harrelson hit a single to drive in Cleon Jones. McGraw pitched the 11th inning to earn the win.[15]
This began an 11-game winning streak that brought them into second place, seven games behind the Chicago Cubs. McGraw earned two saves during that stretch, and 12 for the season. His record as a reliever was 8–2 with a 1.47 ERA.
The Cubs had been in first place in the NL East for 156 days of the season, and they seemed likely to win the division when they came to New York City to open a crucial two-game series with the Mets on September 8. The Mets won both games to close within a half game of the Cubs. The following day, the Mets swept a double header from the expansion Montreal Expos. Coupled with a Cubs loss (who had slumped to a 9–17 record in their final 26 games), the Mets moved into first place for the first time ever during the 1969 season.
On September 15, the St. Louis Cardinals' Steve Carlton struck out a record 19 Mets in a losing effort, as the Mets defeated the Cards 4–3 at Busch Memorial Stadium on a pair of two-run home runs by Ron Swoboda. McGraw pitched the final three innings without giving up a run to earn the win in this game.[16] On September 24, facing Carlton and the Cardinals, again — only this time at Shea Stadium, the New York Mets clinched the NL East as Donn Clendenon hit two home runs in a 6–0 Mets victory.[17] The Mets won 39 of their last 50 games, and finished the season with 100 wins against 62 losses, eight games over the second place Cubs.
McGraw's first postseason appearance came in game two of the new National League Championship Series (NLCS). After the Atlanta Braves lit up Koosman for six runs in 4+2⁄3 innings, Ron Taylor and McGraw held the Braves scoreless the remainder of the way to secure the Mets' 11–6 victory.[18] He did not appear in any other games during the 1969 postseason.
Although McGraw pitched sparingly in the 1969 post season, he remembered the year quite fondly, saying, "Everything changed for me in 1969, the year we turned out to be goddamned amazing, all right."[19]
Whereas relief pitchers are not given the opportunity to bat frequently, McGraw was allowed to bat leading off the sixth inning of a 6–0 blowout at the hands of the Montreal Expos on September 8, 1971. He rewarded his manager's faith in him by putting the Mets on the board with his only career home run.[52]
McGraw could also throw right-handed and would often loosen up before games by playing right-handed catch with his teammates, leaving fans wondering who the right-hander wearing number 45 was. At the time of his death, McGraw was ranked:
Other work[edit]
In the 1980s and 1990s, he was a sports anchor and reporter for Action News on WPVI, the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia. He appeared as himself in a 1999 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond along with several other members of the 1969 New York Mets.
In the mid-1970s, McGraw collaborated with artist Michael Witte on a nationally syndicated comic strip "Scroogie". Scroogie was a relief pitcher for the "Pets", whose teammates included "Tyrone" (a Reggie Jackson-like bopper with a tremendous ego), ace pitcher "Royce Rawls" (loosely based upon former Mets teammate, Tom Seaver), "Chico", a Hispanic shortstop with characteristics similar to Mario Mendoza, and "Homer", an intellectually challenged slugger who could send a ball into orbit. Their announcer, "Herb", wore loud sports coats reminiscent of former Mets announcer Lindsey Nelson, and the team was owned by Millicent Cashman. Actual major league teams and players were used in the comic strip during its two-year run.
McGraw, Witte, David Fisher and Neil Offer produced two books, Scroogie (1976) and Hello there, ball! (1977).[53]
McGraw also recorded a version of the baseball poem "Casey at the Bat", accompanied by Peter Nero and the Philly Pops.