The Modern-Day Babe Ruth

I had this exchange with my co-worker this morning after the Phillies stunning come-from-behind win over LA in Game 4 of the NLCS, highlighted by a Matt Stairs (are-you-fucking-kidding-me) two-run blast off closer Jonathan Broxton to put the Phils ahead for good:

Me: "Unreal game. The best part is that in two years Matt Stairs will become a slow-pitch softball legend. He just officially became a member of the Phillies last night."

Co-worker: "I know. He's the modern-day Babe Ruth. If Babe Ruth played today against minorities and superior pitching, he would be Matt Stairs."

The guy has a point. And before you get all defensive about shoving Ruth in the mud, let's get something straight - Matt Stairs is a helleva hitter. His career .266 / 254 / 864 numbers are no joke. Yeah, they pale next to Ruth's numbers but some of the other comparison's are there. Both are heavy-set guys, Stairs listed at 5-9, 210 and Ruth at 6-2, 215 (although his weight was reported to be as high as 260). Both played a number of years before they became full-time regulars (Stairs because he didn't fit the prototypical standard for what a ballplayer should look like, Ruth because he was a pitcher). And finally, both actually TRIED to hit homeruns on a regular basis. Check out this gem of a quote from Matty Stairs after last night's game -

"My whole career, even back in the early days, my approach was try to hit the ball out of the ballpark," said Stairs. "And it's something I enjoyed doing. In batting practice, I try to hit every ball out of the ballpark. I'm not going to lie, it's fun. I try to hit home runs and that's it. I'm not going to hit a single and steal second base. So I think the biggest thing is to get up there, swing hard and elevate."

That's phenomenal. And do you know what? If the Phillies go on to win the World Series, Matt Stairs can look at his ring and know that that he deserved it. It doesn't matter that he only played in 16 regular season games with the Phils. The future slow-pitch softball homerun champion won a pivotal NLCS game that could propel them to greatness.