Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. (August 30, 1944 – January 5, 2004) was an American professional baseball relief pitcher. McGraw played in 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1965 to 1984, for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. He is 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.
McGraw struck out Willie Wilson to end the 1980 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, bringing the Philadelphia Phillies their first World Series championship in franchise history.
McGraw was one of six Phillies players to die prematurely from glioblastoma, a brain cancer.
Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw Jr. was born August 30, 1944, in Martinez, California, the second of three sons of Frank Edwin "Big Mac" McGraw Sr. and Mable McKenna. McGraw got the nickname "Tugger" from his mother because of the particularly aggressive way he breast-fed. The name stuck and McGraw preferred it, even asking to be called "Tug" by his kindergarten teacher. His mother was bipolar and was physically and verbally abusive. She abandoned the family after spending time in Napa State Mental Hospital and the family was raised by Frank McGraw Sr. His father was athletic and was a butcher, trucker, and fireman and then a water treatment plant operator and engineer who encouraged the children to play sports. He was the great-grandson of Irish immigrants. After his divorce in the early 1950s, Frank Sr. moved his three sons to nearby Vallejo. Tug graduated from St. Vincent Ferrer High School, a Catholic school in Vallejo, in 1962. McGraw enrolled in Vallejo Junior College (now Solano Community College).
In 1961, Tug's brother Hank had signed with the New York Mets by scout Roy Partee; Hank later asked Partee to look into signing Tug, threatening to quit if Tug was not signed. On June 12, 1964, McGraw signed with the New York Mets as an amateur free agent, receiving a $7,000 signing bonus. McGraw was used both as a starting pitcher and as a relief pitcher in Minor League Baseball at Cocoa Beach, Florida, where he pitched a no-hitter in his debut in Auburn, New York. He went 6–4 that year with a 1.64 earned run average.
New York Mets (1965–1967, 1969–1974)
McGraw qualified for the Mets in Spring training in 1965 at age 20, without ever having played double- or triple-A ball. There, he played under manager Casey Stengel, who retired that year. He made his major league debut on April 18, 1965, as a reliever, against the San Francisco Giants. After striking out Orlando Cepeda in his debut, he was given a tranquilizer to calm down.
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). 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. On August 26, he won his next start, 5–2 over Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It marked the first time the Mets had ever beaten Koufax. McGraw remained in the Mets' starting rotation for the remainder of the season but 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. In 1968, he went 9–9 with a 3.42 ERA for the 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.
In June 1969, manager Gil Hodges suggested that Tug become a relief pitcher, a career-changing decision with which Tug agreed. This began an 11-game winning streak that brought the Mets 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 loss by the Cubs, who 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. 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. 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 1969 National League Championship Series (NLCS). After the Atlanta Braves scored six runs off Koosman 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. He did not appear in any other games during the 1969 postseason, in which the Mets won the World Series. McGraw said that "Everything changed for me in 1969". That year he went to Vietnam on a goodwill tour; he was slapped by Ron Taylor for smoking marijuana. He received a $10,000 bonus for being on the World Series team; he used $7,000 to buy a white Mercedes-Benz convertible, which was given to his son after he died.
McGraw emerged as one of the top closers in the National League in the early 1970s, enjoying a career year in 1972. He was 3–3 with a 2.01 ERA and 15 saves at the All-Star break to earn his first All-Star selection. McGraw pitched two innings, striking out four and giving up only one hit to earn the win in the NL's 4–3 come from behind victory. For the season, McGraw went 8–6 with a 1.70 ERA, giving up just 71 hits in 106 innings pitched, and setting a Mets record with 27 saves that lasted until 1984.
Whereas 1973 wasn't as good a year statistically for McGraw, he was valued for the leadership role he assumed for the league champions. The Mets had fallen into last place in the NL East, and had remained there through August 30. McGraw was the winning pitcher for the Mets on August 31 when the Mets emerged from last place with an extra innings victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The win improved McGraw's record to 2–6 with a 5.05 ERA.
For the remainder of the season, McGraw went 3–0 with a 0.57 ERA and ten saves. The Mets, meanwhile, went 20–8 from that point forward to pull off the stunning division title. At a July 9 team meeting where Mets Board Chairman M. Donald Grant was trying to encourage the team, McGraw shouted the words, "Ya Gotta Believe" which became a popular rallying cry for the Mets. He said the famous phrase when maybe only he believed the Mets could actually get to the World Series. But soon enough, hearing McGraw say it again and again, seeing him do his magic in the ninth, the Mets themselves came to believe. They pulled into first place on September 21 with a 10–2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, and clinched the division crown on the final day of the season with a win over the Cubs. This was the only season between 1970 and 1980 that the National League East wasn't won by either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.