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.

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Kimberly Alters

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