On Sunday, the 16th Annual Magnum P.I. Day took place at Comerica Park — and this year, it was attended by a very special guest.
Over 700 fans donning red Hawaiian shirts, Tiger hats, khaki shorts, and aviator sunglasses — some with mustaches, real and fake — paid homage to the popular 1980s CBS TV series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a former Navy Seal Vietnam vet who became a fun-loving, freelance private investigator in Hawaii.
The grassroots group received a thrill of a lifetime when the Detroit-born television and movie star, without any planned pre-publicity, surprised everyone by making an appearance at the ballpark.
Selleck took photos with his admirers in front of the right field wall prior to throwing the ceremonial first pitch in front of cheering fans before the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals game.
We had paid for a package to have an on-field experience and on Friday our contact at the Tigers told us there might be a very cool surprise,” says Magnum Day lead organizer Aaron Klassen, 49, of Ann Arbor.
“The Tigers have always been great to us and I thought maybe Riley Greene with his mustache or another Tiger might join us on the field. But on Saturday my mom texted me and wrote that on the air Jason Benetti mentioned Tom Selleck would be in the booth as part of Magnum P.I. Day. [Benetti apparently and inadvertently let the cat out of the bag]
“I’m thinking no way! When he came over to greet us before the game on Sunday it was incredible and overwhelming. … It was clear that he was moved by meeting us and we were so thrilled to meet him.”
Selleck later reminisced for two innings during the telecast with play-by-play announcer Jason Bennetti, analyst Andy Dirks, and FanDuel Sports Network reporter Johnny Kane, who has covered Magnum P.I. Day for several years. Kane even dressed for the day in the Hawaiian shirt, et al.
In an exclusive one-hour interview with Hour the previous day, Selleck said he had never been to Comerica Park since it opened 25 years ago. A few years ago, he heard about the annual gathering of Magnum fans at the ballpark. (Over the years, the lifelong Tiger fan on numerous occasions took batting practice with the Tigers at Tiger Stadium and even worked out with the team at Spring training in 1991 while preparing for his role in Mr. Baseball (1992).)
“I always wanted to say ‘thank you’ to the group but I was always so busy doing Blue Bloods,” says Selleck who starred as NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan in the crime drama that to everyone’s surprise — including Selleck’s — was cancelled by CBS in 2024 after 15 seasons.
When Selleck first donned the Olde English D for his character on Magnum P.I., he created new Tiger fans across the country while the hat for a time became a No. 1 seller. In 1983 Tiger infielders Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker even made a cameo appearance in one episode. The show ran on CBS from 1980-1988 (followed by years of reruns), and earned Selleck an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.
Jordan Field, Director of Player and Alumni Relations for the Tigers worked on bringing Selleck to Comerica Park for a “planned surprise for Magnum and Tiger fans.”
“We invited Tom previously but he was always busy and could never get away but [we] learned that his schedule was open at the end of August, making it possible to attend the Magnum P.I. game,” says Field who played catch with him in the batting cage under the dugout as Selleck warmed up to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
Field says that before the game, Selleck met manager A.J. Hinch, players and coaches, spoke individually with them, took photos, and signed a baseball for Jake Rogers.
“It was a privilege working with Tom as he was gracious, friendly, and a great storyteller. I think he enjoyed talking baseball with our players and coaches as much as they liked talking to him about his career.”
Beginning in 2009 after Shaun and Shana Smail and Kevin Stephenson gathered twelve or so fans at Comerica Park dressed in Thomas Magnum gear, an unofficial Magnum P.I. Day has been held each year as increasingly dozens of others have joined them, in the past five years drawing participants in the hundreds from Seattle, California, Arkansas, Alabama, the East Coast, and even Canada, according to Klassen.
“I think it was in 2019 when Johnny Kane on a Tiger telecast interviewed us that we really gained traction, because MLB.com picked it up and it went viral. People have also been drawn to our Facebook page,” says Klassen, who joined the group in 2012.
Klassen says that for the first time the group is leveraging its growing popularity and giving back to the community by helping to fundraise for the Brain Injury Association of Michigan (BIAMI).
“Our co-founder Shana Smail, the matriarch of our group, was in a horrible 1991 car accident in which her sister Lisa suffered a severe brain injury and became a quadriplegic. BIAMI helped the family by adding a barrier free bedroom for Lisa and they have done that for other families,” Klassen says,
To help raise funds for BIAMI, a QR code was generated with a link to donate at the Magnum P.I. Day Facebook page. To go along with the theme, Magnum P.I. Day Stache Out the Park, fake mustaches, buttons, and aviator sunglasses were sold at a BIAMI stand at the ballpark and at Bookies Bar and Grille.
