Stairs embraces his roots
Most prominent and popular player at Senior Baseball Championships
WINDSOR Tying run at third, Matt Stairs dug in at the plate, looking to make something happen for the Fredericton Royals.
Stairs ripped an offering by Langley, B.C. Blaze pitcher Jesse Peters hard down the third-base line, but Langley third baseman Bob Foerster made a backhanded stab and threw Stairs out at first.
“We had the tying run out there and I didn’t do my job,” Stairs lamented after Langley held on for a 5-4 victory over Fredericton Friday in action at the national senior baseball championships at Soulliere Field.
“That was kind of the momentum changer. Give credit to their pitcher.”
Stairs, 45, isn’t the first former big-leaguer to play in the Canadian championship, which is taking place this week in Windsor, but without a doubt, he’s the most prominent player from the show to show up on this stage.
When he left Bangor, Me. to move back to the New Brunswick city in which he grew up just over a year ago, Stairs felt it was only natural that he’d turn out for the local ball club, a team for which he played on as a teenager.
“I was hanging out with all the guys and it was a chance for the fans back home to see me play,” said Stairs, who coaches the local AAA midget team and the Fredericton High School Black Kats hockey team in the winter months. “I sign a few autographs and get to play the game I love.”
If there were a Mount Rushmore for Canadian sluggers, Stairs would be one of those featured.
“He’s a legend to everyone, including my kids,” remarked Fredericton second baseman Steve McCarty. “This year has been a special year.
“I’m so happy that I’ve had the privilege to play with such a great guy.”
Stairs, free agent Jason Bay, who was released by Seattle recently, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins and retired star Larry Walker are the only Canadians to hit 200 home runs in major league baseball.
Only Walker (383; 1,311) owns more career homers and RBIs than Stairs (265; 899). Stairs was the second Canadian big-leaguer to post 25 homers and 100 RBIs in consecutive seasons.
His 23 career pinch-hit homers are a major-league record. In the show from 19922011, Stairs played for 13 teams, the record for a position player.
So clutch off the bench was Stairs for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 that T-shirts were printed with the slogan: In case of emergency, use Stairs. Leading up to the Series that year, he hit a monster home run off Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton in the eighth inning of Game 4 in the NLCS, giving the Phillies a 3-1 series lead.
Regardless of his impeccable list of credentials, Stairs approaches this tournament with the same professionalism that he took into his two career World Series appearances.
“He does,” McCarty said. “Every game.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s the World Series or the national championship, when Matt shows up at the ballpark, he puts his cleats on and he plays at that competitive level that he hopes everyone else is going to join him and play at.
His reasoning is simple: Stairs believes that to do anything else would be to disrespect the game.
“I have played at the highest level, but you’ve got to remember, this is the highest level that a lot of guys are going to get to,” Stairs explained. “This is their World Series.”