Matt Stairs Marquee

b. February 27, 1968 · Montreal Expos 1992–1993, Boston Red Sox 1995, Oakland Athletics 1996–2000, Chicago Cubs 2001, Milwaukee Brewers 2002, Pittsburgh Pirates 2003, Kansas City Royals 2004–2006, Texas Rangers 2006, Detroit Tigers 2006, Toronto Blue Jays 2007–2008, Philadelphia Phillies 2008–2009, San Diego Padres 2010, Washington Nationals 2011

Thirteen organizations employed him across nineteen seasons, which is the record, and he hit 23 home runs as a pinch-hitter, which is also the record. He was built like a hockey player from New Brunswick, which is what he had been, and he swung as hard as anyone in the game.

Nineteen seasons gave him 1,366 hits, 265 home runs, 899 runs batted in, 717 walks and a .262 average. His best years were in Oakland: 26 home runs in 1998 and 38 with 102 runs batted in in 1999.

In the fourth game of the 2008 Championship Series he came off the bench in the eighth inning at Los Angeles and hit a two-run home run that won it, and Philadelphia won the World Series. He was never an All-Star. The 2017 ballot gave him no votes at all.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Player of the Week	1	1997

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1992	MON	13	30	2	5	2	0	0	5	7	7	0	.167
1993	MON	6	8	1	3	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	.375
1995	BOS	39	88	8	23	7	1	1	17	4	14	0	.261
1996	OAK	61	137	21	38	5	1	10	23	19	23	1	.277
1997	OAK	133	352	62	105	19	0	27	73	50	60	3	.298
1998	OAK	149	523	88	154	33	1	26	106	59	93	8	.294
1999	OAK	146	531	94	137	26	3	38	102	89	124	2	.258
2000	OAK	143	476	74	108	26	0	21	81	78	122	5	.227
2001	CHC	128	340	48	85	21	0	17	61	52	76	2	.250
2002	MIL	107	270	41	66	15	0	16	41	36	50	2	.244
2003	PIT	121	305	49	89	20	1	20	57	45	64	0	.292
2004	KCR	126	439	48	117	21	3	18	66	49	92	1	.267
2005	KCR	127	396	55	109	26	1	13	66	60	69	1	.275
2006	DET/KCR/TEX	117	348	42	86	21	0	13	51	40	86	0	.247
2007	TOR	125	357	58	103	28	1	21	64	44	66	2	.289
2008	PHI/TOR	121	337	46	85	12	1	13	49	42	90	1	.252
2009	PHI	99	103	15	20	4	0	5	17	23	30	0	.194
2010	SDP	78	99	14	23	6	0	6	16	11	32	2	.232
2011	WSN	56	65	4	10	1	0	0	2	9	23	0	.154
Career	—	1895	5204	770	1366	294	13	265	899	717	1122	30	.262

On this day & linked events

1968

Born February 27, 1968

Fredericton, NB, CAN

1992

Major-league debut: Matt Stairs

Matt Stairs made a major-league debut on May 29, 1992.

2011

Final major-league game: Matt Stairs

Matt Stairs played a final major-league game on July 22, 2011.

Image: Djh57, CC BY 3.0