Stairs Excited To Join Phillies TV Booth
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A couple of key members of the 2008 Phillies team that won the World Series are getting ready for their first seasons as members of the Phillies TV crew on Comcast Sportsnet. Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs will call the action with Tom McCarthy this season.
Stairs was a guest on KYW Newsradio's "Reporters Round-Up" on Thursday and talked about transitioning into the booth.
"When I first retired, I wanted to get into coaching and stuff," Stairs says. "Then I had a taste of doing it (broadcasting) with NESN in the Boston situation, and I enjoyed it. You sit there and you talk baseball, you have fun it and now I'm looking forward to getting into it full-time."
Stairs played for twelve Major League teams over a 19-year career and he hit 265 home runs in regular season action and one in the post-season. But what a post-season blast it was. Of course, that home run came in Game #4 of the 2008 NLCS against the Dodgers - a two-run 8th inning blast that snapped a 5-5 tie, and eventually gave the Phillies a 7-5 win and a 3-1 series lead. They would win the pennant two nights later.
"I think what makes it more special is it was a pinch-hit home run off one of the top relievers in the game (Jonathan Broxton)," Stairs says. "It kind of turned the series around and it helped us win the World Series. I knew it was huge and I could tell that the way that Philadelphia opened their arms, and they were very happy for me to come back the following year, and still talk about it (the home run) to this day, a little over five years (later). And then when I got the chance to broadcast the Phillies games, (they were) very positive, with open arms and people are very excited and so am I."
Matt Stairs Interview
As for what the season could hold for the 2014 Phillies?
"The biggest thing is, you have to stay healthy," Stairs says. "They have some young players coming in, they've got a year under their belt, they're going to be exciting to watch and then if you get the veterans back and being healthy and being ready. I like the signing of A.J. Burnett, he's a good guy, he's a good locker room guy, I played with him. He's a guy that's going to keep it nice and simple, but he's going to have fun as well, and he's going to keep it loose. So the biggest thing with those guys is stay healthy, not try to do to much and get the veteran players that are back there like Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard and those guys to do what they do best. That's create runs, hit home runs and play solid defense."
Thursday was the first day of official workouts for Phillies pitchers and catchers down in Clearwater.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
