Born and raised in Fredericton, Matt Stairs displayed exceptional athletic talent from a young age, playing in the Beaver League baseball a year ahead of his age eligibility and excelling in hockey. After participating in Bantam & Midget baseball, he joined the local Marysville Royals of the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League at 16 and 17, earning “Rookie of the Year” in 1984 and the league’s MVP in 1985. He was also named MVP in the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League in 1987 and 1988 while playing for the Fredericton Schooners.

Stairs attended the National Baseball Institute (NBI) in Vancouver for a year and represented Canada at the 1987 World Amateur Championships in Italy, where he was named to the “World All-Star” team. In 1988, he joined the Canadian Junior National team after graduating from Fredericton High School and played for the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

Stairs is a professional baseball outfielder, first baseman, and designated hitter, who holds the record for most pinch-hit home runs in Major League Baseball (MLB) history with 23.

His pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning of Game 4 in the 2008 National League Championship Series off the Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton was called “one of the most memorable home runs in Phillies history“. 

Throughout his career, Stairs played for more MLB teams than any other position player in history (12 franchises, as he played for both the Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals). He was the second Canadian-born player to hit over 35 home runs in a season and only the second to hit over 25 home runs and accumulate more than 100 RBIs in consecutive seasons. Ranking first or second in power hitting categories among Canadian major leaguers, Stairs holds the all-time MLB record for pinch-hit home runs with 23, earning him the nickname “Matt Stairs – Professional Hitter.” He is one of only five Canadian MLB players to hit at least 200 career home runs. In February 2015, Stairs was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.  

In January 2012, Stairs became a Boston Red Sox studio analyst for the NESN sports news station. In February 2014, the Phillies announced that Stairs and former-Phillie Jamie Moyer would join their television broadcasting crew as color analysts. Stairs worked alongside play-by-play commentator Tom McCarthy, in-game reporter Gregg Murphy, and occasionally with Ben Davis before becoming the Phillies’ hitting coach in 2017.

Stairs is married to Lisa Astle from Fredericton, and they have three daughters, Nicole, Alicia, and Chandler. Residing in Fredericton, Stairs was named coach of the Fredericton High School ice hockey team in 2012, a position he often referred to as his dream job. He was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in June 2012.

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