Best Throwback Athlete
Matt Stairs
The Royals' Matt Stairs might be the only player in the league that steroid testers could exonerate without requiring a sample. That's partly because of his physique (5-feet-9 inches tall, 215 pounds) and partly because that's not the way "the Professional Hitter" does business. Stairs eschews flashy at-bat theme music and issues no-nonsense postgame quotes such as "I'm not real big on the rah-rah, whoopin' and a-hollerin'." He doesn't put up big slugging numbers, and he's slower than a rush-hour highway, but he takes walks, drives in clutch runs and never stops hustling. Fans adore this consummate professional, because of both his on-field contributions and the fact that, despite his million-dollar salary, he's as down-to-earth as a dive bar.
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