Fourteen years ago, Matt Stairs broke the MLB record for most pinch-hit homers

August 21, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Fourteen years ago today, Matt Stairs made major league history.

Batting for San Diego Padres reliever Ernesto Frieri in the eighth inning, Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) belted a two-run home run off Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Kameron Loe. It was the 21st pinch-hit home run of his big-league career and it broke Cliff Johnson‘s major league record for most pinch-hit homers.

Fortunately, the ball ricocheted back on to the field and Stairs was able to retrieve it for his personal collection.

Stairs would club two more pinch-hit round-trippers before the end of his 19-year big league career and he remains the record holder for most pinch-hit home runs in the major leagues with 23.

Overall, Stairs socked 265 major league homers. For his efforts, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015.

I decided to study all of Stairs’ pinch-hit homers to see if I could uncover any trends. Here’s what I discovered:

 If you count his most famous long ball, Stairs has 24 career pinch-hit homers. On October 13, 2008, he belted a pinch-hit, game-winning homer in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series for the Philadelphia Phillies off Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton in the top of the eighth inning. The two-run homer shifted the momentum in the series to the Phillies and was arguably the key hit in the club’s charge to their second World Series title.

 All of Stairs’ pinch-hit homers came off right-handed pitchers.

 Of his 23 regular season pinch-hit blasts, 12 were solo shots, while he also clubbed eight, two-run homers, one three-run tater and two grand slams.

 Huston Street and Matt Capps allowed two pinch-hit homers each to Stairs. They are the only two pitchers he victimized more than once.

 Stairs’ first career pinch-hit homer came off Detroit Tigers right-hander Mike Christopher on April 5, 1996. A member of the Oakland A’s at the time, Stairs slugged a three-run homer off the Tigers reliever in the bottom of the eighth at the Oakland Coliseum.

 He had hit two pinch-hit grand slams. The first was hit on June 24, 1998, while he was with the A’s, off San Francisco Giants right-hander Steve Reed in the top of the eighth inning. His second was belted off Washington Nationals hurler Zack Segovia in the top of the ninth on September 10, 2009 while he was with the Phillies.

 The only Canadian pitcher to surrender a pinch-hit homer to Stairs was Ryan Dempster. Playing for Milwaukee, Stairs hit a two-run homer off Dempster, then with the Cincinnati Reds, in the top of eighth on August 30, 2002 in Cincinnati.

 Stairs never hit a pinch-hit home run as a Montreal Expo, but he did sock two during his tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays. On May 18, 2007, he slugged a pinch-hit homer off Phillies righty Jon Lieber in the top of the eighth inning in Philadelphia. His second came on August 29, 2007 off Huston Street in the top of the ninth in Oakland.

 While with the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 12, 2003, the New Brunswick-born slugger also hammered a pinch-hit homer off Blue Jays reliever Cliff Politte in the top of the ninth inning at the Rogers Centre.