Matt Stairs leads Sports Hall of Fame inductees

Former Major League Baseball player Matt Stairs is among six new members that will be inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame this year.

The six new members will be inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in Fredericton on June 9.

Stairs, whorecently retired from Major League Baseball in Augustafter a 19-year career, holds major league records for the most pinch-hit home runs (23) and the most teams played for (13).

Stairs, a Fredericton native, won a World Series title with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008, when he hit a game-winning home run in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

He retired with 265 career home runs, 897 runs batted in and a .263 batting average, and has recently accepted a sportscast commentator position with the Boston Red Sox.

William Tracy, 91, of Sackville, is also being inducted.

He is already in the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame, having won the Quebec championship in 1954, 1965, 1966 and 1968, and remains an avid curler.

Sarah Forbes, also of Fredericton, will be inducted for her 16-year career on the national field hockey team, during which she competed in 11 international competitions and took home a silver and three bronze medals.

Forbes was a member of the gold medal-winning Team New Brunswick at the 1989 Canadian Summer Games. She lives in Ontario and coaches at the University of Guelph.

Hal Merrill competed at the Paralympics Games in 1992, 1996 and 2000 for javelin, shotput and discus, taking home 16 medals and several world records.

Jacques LeBlanc boxed 320 rounds without being knocked down. He earned five boxing titles, including the Commonwealth Eliminator and overall titles for Canadian, Maritime and Eastern.

And Milaine Thriault of Saint-Quentin will round out the inductees, having skied in three Winter Olympic Games (1998, 2002, 2006). She is now the co-chair of the Cross Country Canada's Women's Committee.

"We are proud to be announcing the election of these six distinguished athletes," said Jamie Wolverton, executive director of the sports hall of fame.

The inductees bring the total number of sports hall of fame honoured members to 225.