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Remembering Tug ...)
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| “TUGGER REVISITED“ A World Series win, a game at the ball park, and a “lefty” with a nervous twitch…how could those insignificant few items change a man’s life!? When I read”1980 Revisited”, written by my son Tony, I cried. The last time I saw Tug, at the final game at the “VET”, I cried. When I heard that Tug McGraw died, I cried. The effect that a 1980 baseball World Series win did to my life and my son’s life may not ever be able to be measured. I realized how important that game in 1980 was to my son, when I read 1980 Revisited. I saw the importance of that game through my son’s eyes, and his thoughts and his observations, and it touched me very, very deeply. This morning, when I heard the news of Tug’s passing, I saw it through my own eyes! Was it my age? I am 56 years old, almost Tug’s age when he died. Was it me looking at my “frailty, and wondering if my time was close? Was it wondering whether “Tim McGraw”, ever even had the chance to go to a ball game with his father when he was 10? NO. It was me looking at all those items this morning through my eyes, FOR THE FIRST TIME! I can remember seeing the look in my son’s eyes, when Tug leaped in the air, and we both knew, the Phillies won the World Series that night. The World Series has not been important to me for years. After all, I am a grown man with responsibilities, that are far more important then A GAME. This year I recall my son and his friend Bob’s eyes, who have far more “Vet memories” then I have ever had, actually shedding tears at the Vet’s final game. Me seeing the look on my son’s face, I realize that sports has help shaped the way he looks at many things. Sure it was only a “game” in 1980, pitched by a left handed, little man, who taught us all that “you gotta believe”! Baseball is only a game, right? Base ball is not life? Thank you Tug for being a part of a game, on a day that is still remembered by many “fathers and sons.” We will miss you! |
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| Anyone familiar with this site knows I am a big fan of baseball. The baseball world lost one of its truly original characters when Tug McGraw passed away this week after a courageous fight with brain cancer. My earliest memory of Tug came at my town's annual festival called Clementon Day. Tug was a resident of our little burg at the time as where a lot of other Philadelphia athletes. Tug was our Grand Marshall that day. After the parade he said a few words, and then sat down on the edge of the stage, and talked, and signed autographs for what was probably the whole town. For a baseball loving 7 year old it was the best day ever. After that day I followed Tugs career religiously. I like many other people in the Delaware Valley leapt with him off the mound in 1980 when he helped lead us to our first world championship, and we walked with him with tears in our eyes this past September when he took to that same mound 23 years later for what was to be his last pitch in his final inning. He will be missed by all of us here in the Delaware Valley, and to the baseball world at large.
Bob DelCamp |