Doing Canada proud, the Canadian way

Somewhat lost last weekend in the hype over Barry Bonds' 755th home run, Alex Rodriquez's 500th and Tom Glavine's 300th pitching win: a pretty significant milestone achieved by a native son of the Maritimes.

Sunday, Matt Stairs of the Toronto Blue Jays played the 1,500th game of his major league baseball career - just the third Canadian (along with Larry Walker and Terry Puhl) to do it.

Long-time followers of the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League may recall when Stairs, now 39, born in Saint John and grew up in the Fredericton area; played briefly in the NSSBL in the 1980s.

Stairs isn't likely to make anyone forget Walker, arguably the best Canadian hitter ever to play major league ball, or Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, who won 284 games in a stellar 19-year career.

Make no mistake, though. Stairs has forged an impressive 15-year career of his own, and arguably stands as the best Maritimer ever to swing a bat in the majors.

He is one of a select group of players to have played for both the Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos - a measure of pride to any Canadian, and also holds the distinction of having driven in six runs in one inning.

Through his 1,500th game Sunday, the 5'9”, 215-pound Stairs had 1,192 hits in 4,477 at bats, including 258 doubles and 234 home runs, and had 793 RBIs.

While never a superstar, Stairs qualifies as a solid major league performer, the kind there seems to always be room for in any dugout - and a valuable player, albeit mainly in a back-up role.

Just ask the Blue Jays, who have benefitted greatly this season from Stairs' talent and wealth of experience. At the close of play Sunday, he was hitting .286 (20 points above his career average), with 14 home runs and 42 RBIs in 234 at bats.

Drafted by Montreal as an amateur free agent in 1989 (after playing for Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Soeul), Stairs made his major league debut with the Expos in 1992. He played briefly for two seasons in Montreal, then spent part of 1995 with the Boston Red Sox (during which he hit his first major league home run).

The “glory years” for Stairs came in Oakland, from 1996 to 2001. He hit 20-plus homers four straight seasons, including a high of 38 in 1999, when he also had 102 RBIs for his second straight 100-RBI season.

Since 2001, Stairs has settled into a reserve role, spending time with several teams (including three in 2006 alone) before the Blue Jays came calling.

He has played an important role while teammates like Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios were injured, spending time in the outfield, at first base and DH and doing everything asked of him - essentially what he has done his whole career.

It's the regulars that get the bulk of the press, but one shouldn't forget - or underestimate - the contributions of second-line players, many of them classy veterans like Stairs.

Before I leave the subject of baseball, I have to save a word for Tom Glavine who, given the way baseball in general and pitching in particular is evolving, might possibly be the last-ever 300-game winner.

Glavine has always been one of my favorite pitchers - not just because he's a lefty like me. Over a 21-year career, he has been the picture of consistency, with five 20-win seasons and 18 years (including 14 in a row) with 10 or more wins.

Glavine, a native of Concord, MA whom the Red Sox somehow managed to let get away, has appeared in nine division series, 10 league championship series and five World Series, and has won 13 postseason games, including a 7-2 division series record.

Even as part of an Atlanta Braves rotation that also included Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, he always seemed to stand out.

I always appreciate athletes who combine talent with the proper degree of humility and gratitude for the gifts they have been given - and the opportunity to showcase them on a national or even international stage. Tom Glavine, and especially Matt Stairs, fall into this category.