Tim McGraw On His Father Tug: ‘How Could I Ever Be Angry’

Baseball great Tug McGraw, who passed away in 2004, is Tim McGraw's father. But Tim didn't know that until he was eleven years old. Tug didn't even acknowledge that Tim was his son until he was seventeen.

Tim writes about it in Esquire Magazine, where he talks about his daughters, his wife, his career, and his late father. The younger McGraw said, "People ask me, 'How could you have a relationship with your father? You were growing up in nothing. He was a millionaire baseball player. He knew you were there, and he didn’t do anything.'"

Tim adds, "But when I found out Tug McGraw was my dad, it gave me something in my little town in Louisiana, something that I would have never reached for. How could I ever be angry?"

He then admits candidly, "Money doesn't solve all the problems, but I’d rather have problems than not have money. As bad as that sounds."

When Tug passed in 2004, McGraw recorded a song that to this day is a fan favorite, "Live Like You Were Dying."