It's been 16 years since Tim McGraw lost his father, famed Major League Baseball player Tug McGraw, to a malignant brain tumor, and the singer loves to honor his dad however he can on important dates. Sunday (Aug. 30) happened to be Tug's birthday (what would have been his 76th), and Tim rose to the occasion with a social media post guaranteed to delight both baseball and country music fans alike.

McGraw chose a fun flashback montage of shots of himself and his father (some delightfully very much from the wayback machine, showing both looking quite young), accompanied by his 2004 hit "Live Like You Were Dying." Fans will recall that the video for that particular song, which discusses making the most of one's final time facing down terminal illness, featured footage of Tug and is his son's song that is most associated with him.

"Happy Birthday Tugger!" McGraw wrote. "He would've been 76 today....We miss his nuttiness!" He also dded the hashtag #yagottabelieve, a phrase attributed to Tug that became a mantra for the '73s-era New York Mets.

McGraw was raised believing that his step-father, Horace Smith, was his father, and only when he was 11 did he discover that his biological father was baseball star Tug McGraw. He came across his birth certificate at that age, which led him to the truth about his lineage. The elder McGraw didn't acknowledge his son until he was 17 years old, but the two formed a close bond that lasted until his death in 2004.

See Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Cutest Photos Through the Years

 

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