The inside story of Tom Selleck's extremely brief MLB career

Tom Selleck.
(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

The year was 1991. The U.S. was at war with Iraq, Reggie Miller made a lot of free throws, and Tom Selleck was a baseball player.

Yes, you read that right — in the spring of 1991, the mustachioed actor donned a Detroit Tigers uniform for three very-real weeks of MLB spring training. Katie Strang has the inside story for The Athletic, and in a story published late Thursday she detailed Selleck's stint in the clubhouse. Selleck was preparing for a star turn in the film Mr. Baseball and wanted to be able to authentically channel a true power-hitter, so as a lifelong Tigers fan, he arranged to join the club for work that spring.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Kimberly Alters

Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.