After graduating from Orchard Lake St. Marys Preparatory, Paciorek played on both the baseball and American football teams while attending the University of Michigan.

Paciorek ended the season with a batting average over .300 for the fourth straight year in 1991, but was cut from the team for hitting only 11 home runs.

Paciorek suffered a hip injury in 1993, and failed reach the .300 mark for the first time in Japan, hitting only 7 home runs with a .243 batting average.

He was dropped by the Tigers during the off-season, and sought to play in the major leagues after returning to the United States, but retired shortly afterwards.

Old-time fans of both teams still remembered Paciorek's contributions to Japanese baseball, and greeted him enthusiastically as he threw the opening pitch.