[3] Additionally he is one of only four Canadians to have played for both the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos, the others being Denis Boucher, Rob Ducey, and Shawn Hill.

His ability to pinch hit made him a valuable asset to several teams and earned him the nickname "Matt Stairs – Professional Hitter".

Stairs, Larry Walker, Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, and Joey Votto are the only Canadian MLB players to hit at least 200 career home runs.

He was called up from Triple-A Edmonton in 1996, after crushing International League pitching to a tune of a .344 average with eight home runs and 41 RBI over the first 51 games.

[6] He played mostly in right field and as a designated hitter, alongside superstars Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, and Jose Canseco, throughout his tenure in Oakland.

In his July 5, 1996 debut with Oakland, Stairs tied a major league record with six runs batted in during one inning.

In 1999, he finished 17th in the American League in the MVP race with a .258 batting average, 38 home runs and 102 RBI in 146 games.

[7] After five seasons with the Athletics, during which he hit 122 home runs and drove in 315 RBI, he was traded on November 20, 2000, to the Chicago Cubs for minor league pitcher Eric Ireland.

[9] The trade was largely seen as a cost-cutting move by the cash-strapped Athletics—Stairs was set to earn $3.2 million for the 2001 season, and his production had dropped in 2000, hitting just .227 with 21 home runs and 81 RBI.

In the three games at Rogers Centre (then called the Skydome), Stairs had five hits in eight at-bats, which included two long home runs.

[7] Despite being on one of the worst teams in baseball, Stairs helped some of the younger players like John Buck and David DeJesus adjust to the majors.

On December 7, 2006, Stairs and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a one-year minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training.

The 2007 season rejuvenated Stairs' career, due to increased playing time following injuries to Reed Johnson and Overbay.

Unexpectedly playing every day, he performed well above expectations, providing consistency at the plate and a valuable veteran presence in the Toronto dugout; team manager John Gibbons publicly stated, "I don't know where we'd be without him.

[21] Though his age and increasingly poor speed earned him a reputation as a defensive liability in the outfield, he still possessed a strong throwing arm, and was considered a perfectly capable fielder at first.

[26] Stairs faced Broxton again in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2009 NLCS rematch between the Phillies and Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

[27] The Phillies won the game later in the inning on a walk-off double by Jimmy Rollins, on which Stairs' pinch runner Eric Bruntlett scored.

On August 21, Stairs hit his 21st home run as a pinch hitter to break a tie with Cliff Johnson for the Major League record.

[42] Noted baseball analysts Bill James and Joe Posnanski have theorized that Stairs is probably a far more talented hitter than his career stats suggest.

[43] In January 2012, Stairs accepted a job with the NESN sports news station to work as a Boston Red Sox studio analyst.

[44] On February 11, 2014, the Phillies announced that Stairs and fellow former-Phillie Jamie Moyer would join the team's television broadcasting crew as color analysts, following the dismissal of Gary Matthews and Chris Wheeler.

Stairs worked with play-by-play commentator Tom McCarthy and in-game reporter Gregg Murphy, and occasionally with Ben Davis,[45] before moving to the Phillies' dugout as the team's hitting coach starting with the 2017 season.