Stairs headlines Morell Sportsmans Dinner

MORELL, P.E.I. — Former Toronto Blue Jay and Montreal Expos’ slugger Matt Stairs will be the guest speaker at this year’s Morell Sportsmans Dinner, the Northside Communities Initiative (NCI) group recently announced.
The dinner takes place at Rodd Crowbush Golf and Beach Resort on Sunday.
Stairs was born in Saint John, N.B., and has had a long illustrious career as a player, coach and colour commentator in Major League Baseball (MLB).
He debuted in 1992 with the Expos and played with 12 more major league teams before retiring in 2011. Stairs played on the World Series-champion Philadelphia Phillies in 2008.
Stairs holds the MLB record of pinch-hit homers with 23 and his homer in the 2008 National League Championship Series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers helped propel the Phillies into the World Series, where they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays. Stairs had a .262 career batting average, belted 265 home runs and drove in 899 runs. In 2015, Stairs was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Stairs, his wife Lisa and three children, Nicole, Alicia and Chandler, live in Fredericton, N.B. Stairs played with the Fredericton Royals in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League in 2013, hitting .375 with four home runs and 20 RBI.
Peakes resident Eddie Smith is this year’s recipient of the NCI recognition of the year award. For more than 50 years Smith has been involved in baseball. He joined the Kings County Baseball League as a member of the Peakes Bombers when he was 15 years old. A true sportsman, Smith exemplifies dedication and hard work, not only in sports but in his community as well.
Smith and his wife Betty live in Peakes and have four children, Duane, Karen, Alan and Chrissy.
Tickets to the dinner are $100 and can be purchased from Kip and Mary Leah Doyle by calling 902-961-2668 or at the Morell Co-op.