World Series Game 3 Is A Homerun For Country Music Taylor Swift & Tim McGraw Have Strong Ties To Home Team And Each Other

Nashville, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Big Machine Records) - Two of country music's brightest stars, Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift, will take the field Saturday night at Philadelphia's Citizens' Bank Park for Game 3 of the 2008 Major League Baseball World Series. Swift will sing the national anthem, McGraw will deliver the game ball.

Swift is a Pennsylvania native who sang her first National Anthem at the age of 10 for her hometown team, the Reading Phillies. She went on to perform the anthem for many other teams and events, including The Harlem Wizards, the Philadelphia 76ers, and even at the US Open, but on Saturday she returns home for the World Series, her first performance for the Phillies. Swift, who launched her music career at the age of 16 with a song called 'Tim McGraw,' will stand on the field with her hero, Tim McGraw, who will deliver the game ball to the pitcher's mound with a local member of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the official charity of Major League Baseball.

McGraw, the son of the most popular sports legend of Philadelphia , will deliver the ball to honor his late father, Tug McGraw. The last pitch thrown in the last Phillies World Series was by Tug McGraw.

Swift and McGraw first met in May of 2007 at the Academy of Country Music Awards , when on live television, Swift stepped from the stage after her performance of her hit 'Tim McGraw' to introduce herself to the song's namesake. Later that year, McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill, invited Swift to join them as the opening act on their Soul2Soul tour.