Editing Matt Stairs/pagetext

{{Person-pagetext
|summary=has been a Major League Baseball Player since 1992. Stairs has played primarily in the outfield, at first base, and as designated hitter for a total of 11 teams. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009, mostly as a pinch hitter.
|infobox-image=File:Matt Stairs-20060930-radiospike.jpg
}}
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Stairs was signed as an amateur free agent by the Expos in 1989 (http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1989/01171989.htm). He debuted in the Majors with the Expos three years later, but did not become a regular starter until 1997, then with the Oakland Athletics, after spending time in the minor leagues, in Nippon Professional Baseball, and with the Red Sox.

Stairs was a regular in Oakland in the outfield and at DH until the end of the 2000 season. Between 1996 and 1999 he averaged an OPS of .910 and hit 101 home runs. At the end of the 2000 season, after an off year, he was traded to the Cubs. He has not spent any season since as a full-time starter, playing for eight teams without having 500 plate appearances in any one season. Since August 2008, Stairs has played with the Phillies, pinch hitting in more than half of the team's games and playing in two World Series.

Born in New Brunswick, Stairs is one of very few players in the history of Major League Baseball from Atlantic Canada. His 259 career home runs at the end of 2009 gave him more than ten times the next highest total by any player born in the maritimes, Pop Smith of Nova Scotia, who hit 24 in the 19th century (http://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/CAN_born.shtml). Stairs has represented Canada in both World Baseball Classics (http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/rosters/index.jsp?season=2006#S, http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/rosters/index.jsp?season=2009#S).

Stairs has played hockey recreationally since childhood, and his 2006 contract (that lasted through 2009) stipulated that he was allowed to play hockey during the offseason. J.P. Ricciardi, Toronto's general manager at the time of the contract, explained that hockey was how Stairs kept in shape (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/sports/baseball/15stairs.html).

Further Reading:  Last Baseball Register entry: 2007 Baseball Register, 2006, Sporting News, St. Louis, MO, US.