Matt Stairs: One of My Favorites

When I sat down to write this piece, the original idea was to compile my all-time team of former A’s. When it came down to it, I really just wanted to write about one player: Matt Stairs. Eleven-year old me just loved his whole demeanor. The softball swing, the hair, and just his overall look. I can’t explain it, really. Before there was Man Crush Monday, there was professional hitter, Matt Stairs. The home runs are what drew me in in my youth, but as I’ve grown up, I have grown to respect the person that Stairs is. Here is a brief glimpse of number 12.

Stairs spent five seasons with Oakland, from 1996 to 2000, and averaged 24 home runs and 77 rbi in that time, with ’99 being his breakout season, clubbing 38 homers and driving in 102. After he was traded, he made a few stops throughout the big leagues, with his time in Philadelphia being the most notable to the casual fan. An eighth inning pinch-hit homer against the Dodgers in the 2008 NLCS was launched into the night, and made this writer happy to see one of his favorite players for over ten years basking in the glow of postseason glory.

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Aside from his baseball stats and his career as a player though, Stairs seems like a great person. Awhile back, he decided that he was going to follow back all of his followers on Twitter, just for the hell of it. This isn’t the same as when Jose Bautista followed people to try and win the Face of MLB competition. Stairs had no motive for such a move, except to show some appreciation to his fans.

This past season, I was fortunate enough to cover some games in the Oakland press box, and one of the games was against the Phillies, the team which Stairs is currently a broadcaster for. In anticipation of this series, I asked Stairs via Twitter if he would be making the trip to Oakland. Within a few minutes he responded that he would be away doing some charity work, but just that he took the time to reply to my little question was pretty cool, and shows what kind of person Stairs really is.

After this, I found out that he has a website for his charity work, which can be found at mattstairscharityevents.com. His charity work benefits the Fredericton Minor Baseball Association and the Fredericton SPCA in his hometown of Fredericton in New Brunswick (East of Maine). Stairs also coaches the Fredericton High School (where he went to HS) hockey team in the offseason.

Stairs later became known as a “professional hitter” but I like to think that he was my favorite player before all of the fame and glory.