Tim McGraw has two half-brothers, Matthew and Mark, plus a half-sister named Cari Velardo through his dad, the late Major League Baseball relief pitcher Tug McGraw.
Tim recently took a road trip with his brothers, clad in Adidas track suits picked out by Faith Hill and bound to Napa to surprise Uncle Hank.
My brothers and I took a road trip to Napa to surprise our uncle Hank......
(@FaithHill got us track suits for the trip) ? @adidas pic.twitter.com/KElYnzZirx— Tim McGraw (@TheTimMcGraw) March 1, 2021
The trio belt out The Eagles' "Hotel California." You get the idea that it wasn't the first time Tim had sang one of The Eagles' classic rock hit in traffic, if only because he's a stan.
"Anytime I'm by myself and I want to listen to music the first thing I do is put on Eagles Greatest Hits and they've influenced my music in a lot of different ways," he told Forbes. "Sure there have been plenty of other influences — I'm a huge Merle Haggard fan, a huge George Strait fan, a huge Phil Collins fan. All those things have made impacts on me, but let's not forget there's a lot of country music in the Eagles. I think when you take into consideration the lyrics, the melodies, the harmonies, the musicianship, it's some of the best music ever made in my opinion."
Tim and Tug McGraw's Family Story
Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. played in the big leagues from 1965 to 1984. He debuted with the New York Mets and was part of the franchise's 1969 World Series championship roster. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1975. In the 1980 World Series, Tug sewed up the Phillies' first-ever world title with a postseason-ending strikeout of the Kansas City Royals' Willie Wilson. Both teams rallied at times around Tug's catchphrase, "Ya Gotta Believe!," while chasing a National League pennant.
While playing minor league baseball in Florida, Tug had a one-time sexual encounter with a teenager named Betty D'Agostino. After D'Agostino discovered that she was pregnant, her family sent her to Louisiana, where she gave birth to Tim McGraw.
Until age 11, Tim thought his stepdad, Horace Smith, was his biological father. The future country music singer learned the truth after finding his birth certificate while working on a school project.
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Despite the discovery, the two-time MLB all-star denied being Tim's father until after his son turned 18. Tim became close to his father as an adult, with Tug coming along for Tim's ride to Nashville stardom and Tim enjoying the final years of the screwball-tossing baseball player's life.
Tug was working as an instructor for the Phillies during spring training when he was hospitalized on March 12, 2003 with a glioblastoma brain tumor. A little over nine months later, he passed away from brain cancer complications.
Tim's "Live Like You Were Dying" became a tribute to his ballplayer father's final years.
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[sweeps]
