Tug McGraw: Even Yankees Fans Miss the Great Mets Pitcher

Tug McGraw would slap his glove against his right leg on his way back to the dugout after retiring his opposition. It was something new because most players rarely showed emotion in those days.  The rule was never to "show up" the other team.

In 1969, when the Mets finally overtook the first place the Chicago Cubs, McGraw left the mound waving his index finger high into the air to confirm the fact that his team was indeed number one. McGraw was ahead of his time.

Frank Edwin McGraw was always Tug.

“I never answered to another name,” he told author Stanley Cohen in A Magic Summer. “My mother started calling me Tug when I was an infant because of the way I nursed. ‘He’s a real Tugger,’ she said."

Tug told another story that one might question, but having met McGraw a few years ago, it's probably true.

“On my first day of kindergarten, the teacher called the roll and when she finished she said, ‘Is there anyone whose name I didn’t call?' I raised my hand. ‘My name is Tug McGraw,’ I said."

"She looked at the roll and said, ‘I have a Frank McGraw.’ I said, ‘No, that’s my dad. He already went to kindergarten.’”

McGraw, Gary Carter and Dwight Gooden were in a large room at an autograph show in November of 2000. My son and I were New York Yankees fans and we wanted Gooden's autograph to add to the Yankees collection.

We were near the end of long line of fans waiting for Gooden to sign. McGraw and Carter were having fun asking the lined-up fans questions as Gooden diligently signed baseballs and photographs.

With an incredulous expression on his face, McGraw stood up and spoke.

"I know that there are Yankees players at this show. Are there any Yankees fans in this room?"

I raised my hand. The only other raised hand belonged to my son.

In his usual, inimitable, mischievous way, Tug questioned our intelligence.The crowd of Mets fans roared with delight.

But Tug McGraw was all class.

I started to tell the thousands-of-times-repeated joke about the orphan that was in front of a judge in a custody case. When some fans wanted me to stop, Tug requested that they should be quiet.

"Do you want to live with your mother?"

"No, my mother beats me."

"Do you want to live with your father?"

"No, my father beats me."

With whom do you want to live?"

"I want to live with the Mets because they don't beat anyone."

I was booed unmercifully as Tug laughed.

Even Yankees fans miss Tug McGraw.