Stairs family ecstatic over Phillies WS win
Published Friday October 31st, 2008
Father of N.B. veteran major leaguer says son's World Series victory sent him 'through the ceiling'
By BILL HUNT
Canadaeast News Service
AP
Phillies' Eric Bruntlett, centre, celebrates with Jayson Werth (28) and Matt Stairs after Bruntlett scored the winning run to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in Game 3 of the World Series.
FREDERICTON - Jean Stairs Logan can't put into words exactly how it feels to watch her son reach the pinnacle of his profession.
But Matt Stairs can.
"You're the best team in the world," said the 40-year-old Frederictonian who helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the 2008 World Series on Wednesday night. "That pretty much says it all."
The Phillies clinched their first World Series baseball championship since 1980 and only the second in the team's 126-year history with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Philadelphia. They clinched the best-of-seven series in five games.
"I just can't believe it," said his mom yesterday. "My little curly-haired boy, starting to play baseball ... it's hard to take in. I'm so happy, and so proud of him."
She admitted she, "jumped up and let a scream out of me," in her living room in Tay Creek when the Phillies registered the final out.
"You didn't hear me?" she joked.
His father Wendell Stairs invited local baseball legend Bill Saunders to his house to watch the series clincher. Saunders coached Stairs in minor baseball here, long before Matt began a baseball odyssey that took him from Venezuela to Japan to Mexico, to the minors and to 11 major league cities before it finally landed him on top of the world.
"I jumped up and almost went through the ceiling," said the proud dad. "After I had about my third heart attack, I was all right. You couldn't help but be excited. Matt's worked a long time for this."
Matt Stairs's wife of 19 years, Lisa, along with daughters Nicole, Alicia and Chandler, his mother-in-law and brother Tim were at Citizen's Bank Ballpark to share his moment in the baseball sun.
"Having my wife and my daughters (here) was the most important thing," Stairs said. "Twenty years I've been playing this game and we had our 19th anniversary (three) days ago.
"Just to see the joy on their faces and the tears of happiness ... there's no better feeling."
Stairs had just one at bat in the World Series -- he pinch hit in Game 4 and struck out -- but his eighth inning, game winning home run during Game 4 of the National League championship series lifted the Phillies to a 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team wrapped up a berth in the World Series with a win the next night.
"I always knew that Matt had a fair amount of talent, but you're not sure something like this is ever going to happen," said Wendell Stairs. "To finally get this far, it's hard to describe how you feel."
Jason Dickson realizes how difficult the journey is. Now the executive director of Sport New Brunswick, Dickson is a former major league all-star pitcher with the Anaheim Angels whose career was cut short due to an arm injury.
"I can't even imagine what it's like," said Dickson. "I laughed because I saw an interview where he said, 'I wouldn't say you couldn't put it into words, but I would describe it as' ... and then he was at a loss for words. I'm excited for him. I can't even imagine."
He did. But he was in his backyard at the time.
"When I was a kid and I was in the backyard, it wasn't 'It's July and I'm trying to win the game.' It was "Bases loaded, full count, World Series for whatever your favourite team was. I'm sure for him it hasn't even sunk in yet."
Dickson said acquaintances he's talked to who have won said, "It really starts to hit them when they're doing the parade. They realize then how big it is."
That will happen today in Philadelphia, a city that hasn't had a championship team in any major sport since the 76ers won the National Basketball Association crown in 1983.
One million people are expected to line the parade route.
Fredericton, and the baseball community in New Brunswick, plan to hold a ceremony to salute their native son.
Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside said a group led by Councillor Mike O'Brien is in charge of co-ordinating the celebration.
"We talked about it a while ago, in anticipation of Matt being on a world championship team," Woodside said. "We'll be talking to the baseball community to make sure that what we do is timely and appropriate and good for Matt and good for the community."
O'Brien said the celebration, and the declaration of Matt Stairs Day, would be co-ordinated around his induction to the Baseball New Brunswick Hall of Fame, which was an event originally scheduled for last Saturday night. Stairs's appearance was pre-empted by Game 3 of the World Series.
O'Brien said the city "will be proud to honour Matt in some fashion. We're going to co-ordinate our efforts to have Matt Stairs Day in the city around his induction to the Baseball New Brunswick Hall of Fame. We will find a fitting tribute and there will be a lasting tribute to him somewhere."