Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2008 - 3:59 pm:

quote:

Matt Stairs is a world champion and his family and friends could not be happier for the 40-year-old pride of Fredericton.

"All of Fredericton, all of New Brunswick, all of Canada is so happy for him," said Fredericton's Bill Saunders, a member of the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame who helped Stairs sign his first contract with the Montreal Expos in 1988.

"We are elated one of our own guys accomplished this."

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series Wednesday with a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays to clinch the series in five games, providing Stairs with his first championship in 16 Major League seasons and more than 1,600 games.

"It has been a fantastic story from the time he played minor baseball and senior ball here in Fredericton," his father Wendell said in Fredericton on Wednesday."He is a terrific athlete and he always was. I think it just unreal what he has done."

Wednesday's win capped an exciting, yet nervous, time for his family, who were there during the early days, when his trips to games were located in places like Edmonton, Rockford, Pawtucket, Japan and even Mexico.

But a beginning in Montreal led to another opportunity in Boston and then a big chance in Oakland, where his career took off with two straight years of more than 100 runs batted in during the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

He's been in the big leagues since.