Stairs to be featured guest at WCBL All-Star Game
Former big league slugger Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) will be the featured celebrity guest at the Western Canadian Baseball League All-Star Game which will be played at Seaman Stadium in Okotoks, Alta., on July 23.
March 3, 2022
Official Western Canadian Baseball League News Release
Okotoks, Alberta, Canada – The Okotoks Dawgs are pleased to announce that former Major League Baseball (MLB) standout Matt Stairs will attend the 2022 All-Star Game of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) as the event’s feature celebrity guest.
The Dawgs will host the showcase event, which will pit the best players of the WCBL’s Eastern Division against the stars of the West Division on Saturday, July 23 at beautiful Seaman Stadium in Okotoks.
Stairs hails from Fredericton, N.B., and enjoyed a 19-season MLB career, notably with the Montreal Expos, Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he won a World Series in 2008. His pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning of Game 4 in the 2008 National League Championship Series (NLCS) off Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Jonathan Broxton was one of the most memorable blasts in Philadelphia history.
An accomplished big-league slugger, Stairs continues to hold the MLB record for pinch-hit home runs with 23. He was the second Canadian-born player ever to hit more than 35 home runs in a season, and only the second to hit more than 25 home runs and drive in more than 100 runs in back-to-back seasons. He ranks in the top three in many power hitting categories for Canadian major leaguers.
On February 4, 2015, Stairs was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for the Edmonton Trappers in 1996 and has been a guest speaker in several WCBL markets, including Regina, Weyburn and Edmonton.
The WCBL has been in continuous operation for over 80 years and features historic rivalries throughout all the major centers in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It is Canada’s premier summer collegiate baseball league, showcasing outstanding Canadian and American college stars from universities and colleges across the United States and Canada.
The WCBL All-Star Game promises to be a Canadian baseball celebration, including fireworks displays, musical entertainment, appearances and autograph sessions with various baseball celebrities and MLB scouts. It will also include fan-friendly barbecues and a home run derby.
The Dawgs were the 2019 WCBL Champions and are the league’s marquis franchise, with average attendance of 4,000 fans per game. Ballpark Biz has ranked the Dawgs 3rd in North America among summer collegiate franchises in terms of attendance.