Matt Stairs cannot shake the feeling that it is October. Why else would he be at home in Bangor, Maine shuttling his daughters to their various activities, packing his hockey bag for a pickup game and generally being a stay-at-home husband and dad. This part of his life never starts until the baseball season ends.
“It sure feels like October,” Stairs says with a laugh. “It is strange. But let’s face it, I sucked this year.”
Endings are the hard part for every aging athlete. There is the storybook version, the one where the grizzled old veteran smacks the game-winning blast and then rides off into the sunset.
And then there is usual version, the one Matt Stairs has written: The 43-year-old New Brunswick native had a .154 batting average when he was released by the Washington Nationals last week. A few days later, when nobody claimed him on waivers or called to offer him a spot for the rest of the year, he retired with little fanfare.
“It is not the way you want things to end,” Stairs says. “But I can honestly say that I don’t miss baseball, and I am not going to sit around.
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