Former major leaguer Matt Stairs is going home.
The longtime Bangor resident said he, wife Lisa and daughters Nicole, Alicia and Chandler are returning to their native Fredericton, New Brunswick, in the near future.
He said they have discussed the move for years and a recent house burglary expedited the move. Jewelry was stolen from his home, including his National League and American League championship rings, a National League championship pendant belonging to his wife and some watches.
Stairs bought a house in Bangor in November of 2000, the same day he was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Chicago Cubs.
Stairs said even after his family moves back to New Brunswick, he intends to continue as a part-time studio analyst for Boston Red Sox games with the New England Sports Network. He is in his first year with NESN.
“It’s going well. I’m enjoying it a lot,” said Stairs, an assistant coach for the Bangor High School hockey team in the winter. “I had watched the show before and it’s pretty much what I had expected.”
He said studio host Tom Caron has made the transition “very easy” for him.
“[Caron] is very good at what he does,” said the 44-year-old Stairs, who set the major league record for pinch-hit homers (23) during a 19-year, 12-team career in which he hit .262 with 265 homers and 899 runs batted in.
Caron said Stairs has been “great.”
“He is a student of the game and he is very likeable. If he wants to, he can do this for a very long time,” said Caron. “He has great insight, he’s very knowledgeable. He thinks like a manager.”
He said Stairs’ role late in his career as a pinch-hitter required him to observe the game in preparation for his pinch-hitting role and that gave him valuable background knowledge. The fact he played with so many teams and so many players also has been beneficial.
Stairs said don’t count the Red Sox out of the playoff hunt just yet.
A second wild-card team has been added in each league this season and the Red Sox, 43-43 at the All-Star break, are 2½ games out of the second wild-card spot.
The Red Sox have had 20 players on the disabled list and should get some of them back after the All-Star break, including center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and left fielder Carl Crawford, two of baseball’s best base stealers. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia should be back within three weeks.
Ellsbury played in just seven games and Crawford hasn’t played yet this season. Both are in extensive rehab stints.
“I know they’re not happy to be .500 at the All-Star break but with all the injuries they’ve had, I think .500 is good. They’re only 2½ games out of the [second] wild card spot. They’re still in pretty good position,” said Stairs. “Once they get all the big boys back, they could go on a pretty good run.”
Stairs said the young players who have been called up have done a nice job filling in for the regulars.
Headlining that list are third baseman Will Middlebrooks (.298, 10 homers, 37 RBIs), outfielder Daniel Nava (.275-3-26) and recent call-ups Mauro Gomez (8-for-22, .364) and Pedro Ciriaco (7-for-13, .538).
Gomez has been playing third for the injured Middlebrooks (hamstring) and Ciriaco has taken Pedroia’s place at second. Pedroia is out with a thumb injury.
But Stairs said it will be up to the top three starters in the rotation — Josh Beckett (4-7, 4.43 earned run average), Jon Lester (5-6, 4.49) and Clay Buchholz (8-2, 5.53) — to pitch with more consistency if the Sox are going to make the playoffs. Felix Doubront (9-4, 4.41), reliever-turned-starter Franklin Morales (1-2, 3.50) and Aaron Cook (2-2, 4.37) have pitched well out of the rotation, he said.
Stairs said when Beckett, Lester and Buchholz pitch up to their potential, “they give the team the opportunity to win every time they’re on the field. But they haven’t done it [consistently] so far.
“This will give them a good mental break and we’ll see what happens after the break,” said Stairs. “The bullpen has done a good job but they’re overworked. The big thing about the bullpen is all of them know their roles now and getting [Andrew] Bailey back will help.”
Bailey hasn’t pitched for the Red Sox yet because of thumb surgery.
The Red Sox team ERA of 4.22 is 10th among 14 American League teams and they are tied for eighth in quality starts with 41.
A quality start is when a starting pitcher goes at least six innings and gives up three earned runs or less.
Only three teams have allowed more earned runs than the Red Sox (364).
Offensively, despite the injuries, the Red Sox are second in runs scored (432) and fourth in batting average (.268).
The Red Sox trade of veteran third baseman Kevin Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox for utility man Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Zach Stewart was an “unfortunate situation” according to Stairs.
“I hated to see him go. He can still play. He still has four or five more years. But it was one of those things where it was best for him and for the organization. And the Red Sox were able to free up some money [$2 million] which they can use to make a trade,” said Stairs, noting that Middlebrooks’ impressive play warranted the trade.
He expects Ellsbury, Crawford and Cody Ross to be the starting outfield when Ellsbury and Crawford return and Nava to serve as the fourth outfielder.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to trade [Ryan] Sweeney,” he said.
Stairs will do 13 more games for NESN this season.
Smart move!!!
This is why we can’t have nice things. Hide yo wife, hide yo kids, hide yo championship rings…
But keep your 1911 in reach
Amen to that, brother.
battlestar galactica
It sux that druggie bleep oles are infesting Bangor now. Sorry Matt. You and your family deserved better. I liked you as a player and your doing a great job with NESN. Best of luck.
Good luck to you Matt…had many a fun nights playing hockey with ya bud….still have the gloves you gave me….you be safe, and enjoy…signed “th detective”?? yep…..good times my friend…
Matt, you will surely be missed in Bangor’s hockey circle and as a member of the community. I wish you and your family the best. Could you leave a couple of bats behind just in-case someone finds out who broke into your house :)
F’ton’s gain is Bangor’s loss. Thanks, robbers and thieves, for messing up our communities again!
Bangor should relish that we actually have a celebrity who lives and wanted to reside in Bangor, Maine. Bangor should try to do something positive for him and his family to think about remaining here. Matt and his family are a credit to our community. What we were as a city were proud of, the lack of crime has increased so much that it has driven him and his family out. People are leaving and some folks still don’t get it. Bring on more meth clinic’s , homeless shelters on Main Street, do nothing with First and Ohio Street and allow good, responsible families to leave in droves. May be time to wake up, folks.
He truly is a great guy. Very humble and easy to talk to. Views himself as a regular Joe! You’ll be missed!
i agree. this guy is a class act and has not let the big time go to his head. when his hockey team came to the county, he would take time to talk to people and give autographs. very genuine. to bad to see him leave bangor, on the other hand matt, presque isle has some houses for sale . we would love to see you come up to the county and the transcanada highway is only minutes away. you can visit home in an hour :)
There may be no solution. America is a collapsing civilization thanks to the liberals and multiculturalism.
Stairs is lucky he can return to New Brunswick.
Seriously?? No solution?? Fear fear fear…. Go back to your Fox news for your latest dose of fear. Oh and take the hood off so you can see.
The work ethic is rapidly fading in the US, but the libs don’t care, just keep squeezing those of us who do work to pay for all of those who will NOT (and again, even if we had more jobs…not that Obama knows how to do anything about that, there are still way too many people in our country who do not care to or will not work. The US has made sitting on the couch way too easy.
maine has made sitting on the couch way to easy. people on welfare pay low rent, get food stamps and mainecare among other forms of assistance . they know as soon as they go get that $8.00 an hour job the state will take everything out from under them instead of taking just a little. thats why people stay on welfare there better off . they know that $8.00 an hour isn’t going to pay the high rent prices in this state , along with all the other overpriced bills. so are these people lazy ? or smart? this is what you get in a state where its expensive to live in it, but the jobs are low paying. i bet if all of you reading this no matter what your occupation is, if you searched in other states for your job you would find you would make more money. im not saying every state but they are out there. good paying jobs keep people off welfare.
With an education, maybe they could hope for a little more than $8/hour. There are plenty of people out there who have ZERO intention of working, regardless of what any prospective job might pay. If people don’t believe that, they are fooling themselves. Why is it so easy for a young woman to have child after child as an occupation? (pays way more than $8/hour considering all of the benefits they receive.
The work ethic is rapidly fading. I am not convinced that the countless people I see walking around the Hammond st end of Ohio St are simply exhausted from filling out job applications or EMCC applications so they can further their education.
I am sure there are states that pay better than Maine, of course. However, there are states where “low” property taxes are 7K/year too or rents are worse than here. If the jobs here are worse, why again are people moving in from out of state all the time (we know the answer and it starts with what the libs have done to this state….maine care, general assistance, you name it, just keep ’em coming.”….many of them are NOT here to look for jobs.
im not saying everyone on welfare is legit but i know people who went to collage that weren’t working at the time and needed welfare and there rent was very cheap. then when they did find a job in there field the state jacked the rent up so high there job wasnt enough to pay all the bills my point is people , the legit people are afraid to find a job because there job wont cover what they need . and there afraid of losing there health care for themselves and there children. therefore they stay on welfare. and the person i speak of was in the medical field and made more than $8.00 an hour not much more which is pretty sad for having a degree in the medical field. only in maine.
As opposed to your rose colored glasses??? The fact that alot of people around have no morality and the decline of society as a whole should wake you up.
…where they have universal healthcare…
and as long as he and his family don’t need any serious health care, they will be fine. Other wise, he will either have additional insurance or bring his family back to the US.
Hope they catch the fools who made off with his stuff. Imagine when your home is violated, eventually you’ll want to move. I agree the town’s got issues, ll those stupid meth clinics, only makes it easier for addicts to breed. But one has nothing to do with the other. Surprised this is even a front page article. Matt Stairs moving back home to his native Fredericton, New Brunswick, hey, good for him, seems he’d planned the move for some time. But big deal, soo he’s a sports celebrity, really means nothing aside for interesting media bite. Wish the best for him and his family, and his athletic/coaching skills. I’m sure Fredericton’s got their issues too. Who knows, he might be targeted by criminals there. Sports celebrities are often regional targets all over the world. Baseball player’s families in some Central American regions are routinely targets for kidnapping.
From an earlier article, the Stairs family was planning on moving back to Fredericton in a couple of years. It is sad if the break-in moved up the timeline. It is sad to see the family go, but I do have to wonder……does Fredericton have no crime?
Bangor has gotten worse, no doubt. Some of it is the economy, but I believe that is much less of the issue than it is what the libs have tried to do to the state…..more meth clinics, nobody has to work for a living, just keep handing out services and sit back and wonder why Ohio St, etc look like they do. There are many out there on the public dime who do NOT want to work/will NOT work, and they are plenty healthy to do so. I am sick of hearing about the disenfranchised 23 year olds who seem to have money for countless tattoos and cigarettes but need us to pay for their housing, healthcare, etc. Couple that with the fact that breeding has become an occupation (pays pretty well overall, too, for many). Have a kid, get an apartment, food, phone, healthcare….yep, let’s sit back and wonder why Bangor looks like it does.
it’s a good thing you don’t work in an emergency room. you would have had a stroke by now. i agree with you 100%.
Best of luck Matt. I dont blame you for going back to Fredericton. Beautiful city with very little crime from what ive seen. Unlike this dump of a town crawling with unemployed druggies. My girlfriend lives there so im there about 3 weekends a month. Maybe Ill bump into you and your family some Saturday morning at Market.
I was hoping this was some family member or inside job I guess after reading the first report. I know Matt’s house, nice place, modest for his means but substantial for Bangor. It is also really out in the open which I would think would not be the first choice of Joe Blow Smash and Grab that doesn’t know it belongs to a famous athlete. It doesn’t surprise me that a thief will break into anything but to target his house, know where he keeps his valuables, know nobody was home, know the alarm was off, know nobody would report the extra activity in the home? It all sounded like an inside job here. Either way, sorry for your loss of your valuables. I guess the only encouragement that we can offer is to say sorry but we are glad there was nobody around that was victim to bodily injury or harm.
It is good to know that you were happy in Bangor and choose to make an investment in the community. Bangor is a great City but it has had some poor planning and leadership, none that can’t be fixed, just need the right people with the right attitude and right ideas to make it happen.
God Bless.
I wonder if the fact that the thieves have not been caught has anything to do with Matt wanting to leave. Its so sad that good guys like this get so disgusted with what happens in the area that he believe the best move is to leave but honestly who can blame him expecially with children. Good Luck Matt, and thanks for making Bangor a better place and JohnBapst Hockey a better program while you were here.
Class act … Can’t blame a guy for wanting to return to his home town.
I’m getting so sick of this crap! How many more good, tax paying citizens does this city need to lose to see that there is a problem here? We as an entire city need to fight back! We need to put pressure on this City Council to get these people out of here and do their job to protect the good people of Bangor. Bangor deserves better!!
With the influx of newcomers from Georgia, it will only get much, much worse.
Look for rapes, murders, and drug-related killings as the Dog Days of Summer approach.
Crime is up, good people are moving out: Just like feeding birds. Keep giving them free food and they will eventually take over your yard and s–t on you.
very well said. and true.
The next trend will be white flight out of Bangor, then urban decay.
The situation on Ohio Street is already intolerable, with the newcomers dealing drugs openly on the street, also across from the Thomas Hill Museum.
Where are the cops?
As a visitor from NYC once said,
“People in Maine don’t realize that when they see graffiti, it means they have already lost the neighborhood.”
Glad no one in Matts family was home when they were robbed. Lucky for him he has the resources to leave and protect his family too. I have heard he is a real nice guy too.
Right, because Canada is so much more conservative than the US. You are sounding like Rush Limbaugh with his comment that he was going to move to Costa Rica if “Obamacare” remains in place – Costa Rica has socialized universal health care.
Very sad that his sense of security for his family was ruined by whoever broke into his house and robbed his family of their property and safety. It makes me very sad that Bangor has become a hub for violence and we are loosing a valuable member of our community. I am so sorry, Matt and family.
I have a friend who left Bangor a long time ago never to return.. He claimed it was to spend more time with his family and other personel reasons.. I’m not sure if he was telling the truth or not.. does anybody know???
This is what is going to happen to Bangor, because of high taxes and outside people telling the council where and how to spend money… Lead paint laws will only help in the older bangor homes to rot into decay…
Want to be a social service city then this is what will happen. http://youtu.be/SWEdjiEJg0U
Latah…