Tim McGraw Found the Truth About His Father in an Old Shoebox

Country music superstar Tim McGraw is a huge baseball fan, but he never could have imagined how deeply the sport fit into his life when he was a child. McGraw grew up using the last name Smith, his stepfather’s last name, without knowing anything about his actual birth father. However, as Country Chord shared, an old shoebox in his mom’s room revealed the truth about his parentage when the singer was 11 years old.

As McGraw explained, he opened the box and found his birth certificate, which contained a mysterious detail. “And it said Samuel Timothy McGraw,” he said. “The McGraw was X’d out, and it had Smith written in hand above it. And I didn’t have a clue what that meant.” The singer kept scanning the birth certificate and saw that his father was listed as a “professional baseball player.” This prompted a revelation: “And that’s how I found out Tug McGraw, that he was my father.”

It Took a Long Time for The Singer to Actually Meet Tug

GettyTim McGraw performs at Bridgestone Arena on April 25, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tug’s baseball career began in 1965 and lasted nearly two decades, and he played for both the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies during that time. Unsurprisingly, young Tim was eager to see his father in action after discovering his true identity. “[I] begged my mom to take me back to see the Phillies play Houston,” the singer recalled. “And she borrowed a car and we drove to Houston. He was playing at the Astrodome, and he had left tickets for us.”

That may sound like the makings of a father/son reunion, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Although Tim tried to get his father’s attention while he was on the field, but Tug didn’t respond. After half an hour of trying, Tim gave up. It wasn’t until seven years later, when Tim’s mother reached out for help paying his college tuition, that the singer finally got to connect with his birth father.

Tim McGraw Calls His Father ‘An Inspiration’

GettyTim McGraw performs onstage during the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 22, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Reconciling with Tug led Tim to change his last name back to McGraw, and he has gone by that name ever since. Their relationship certainly got off to a late, rocky start, but Tim chooses to look at the positives. As he explained to Esquire in 2021: “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?”

That same year, Tim posted a heartfelt video paying tribute to his late father on what would have been his 77th birthday. In the video, Tim calls his father “an inspiration” and shares that watching him play baseball gave him hope that he could also do something great with his life. Based on his long, successful career in country music, that hope was certainly well-founded.