Tom Selleck Returns to His Roots
This past August, more than 700 people of all ages—wearing red Hawaiian shirts, Tigers hats, fake and real mustaches, khaki shorts, and aviator sunglasses—attended a Sunday afternoon game at Comerica Park.
These costumes were not part of an official Detroit Tigers promotion. They were worn by participants of the “unofficial” 16th annual Magnum P.I. Day at Comerica Park. This tradition, which typically takes place during the last Sunday home game in August, pays homage to the popular 1980s CBS television series Magnum, P.I., starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran turned fun-loving freelance private investigator in Hawaii.
And just like this year’s Tigers team, there was something special about this year’s event. Without any advance publicity, Tom Selleck himself surprised fans by making an appearance at the ballpark. He took photos with his Magnum look-alikes in front of the right-field wall before throwing the ceremonial first pitch.
“Someone told me a few years ago about the Magnum fans at Comerica Park, and I figured it was like three fans,” says Selleck, a lifelong rabid Tigers fan who had never been to the 25-year-old ballpark. “I found out that in fact, it was a whole section. I couldn’t believe it.”
He later reminisced for two innings during the telecast with play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti, analyst Andy Dirks, and FanDuel Sports Network reporter Johnny Kane.
When Selleck first donned the Old English “D” for his character on the award-winning Magnum P.I., which ran for 162 episodes from 1980 to 1988 (followed by decades of reruns), the Detroit-born actor created new Tigers fans across the country, while the hat became a top seller. In 1983, Tigers infielders Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker even made a cameo appearance in one episode of the series.
