One small step toward history. One giant blast for all Philadelphia!

With one swing...

Matt Stairs became an icon in Philadelphia sports history. Some athletes (see: McNabb, Donovan) fight their entire careers in this city in order to gain the respect and admiration of this rabid fan base. Matt Stairs solidified himself as an all-time playoff hero the likes of Gary "Sarge" Matthews, Mike Schmidt, Freddie "4th and 26" Mitchell, and Wilbert Montgomery. Think I am crazy? Think again.

Philadelphia doesn'tforget many things. Whether its the good, the bad, or the down right ugly, we tend to hang on to every memory for as long as we are alive. That is why last nights huge home run will go down as one of the greatest sports moments in Philadelphia history. I can still remember sitting at Citizens Bank Park in early September, and watching Stairs step to the plate for his first pinch hit as a Phillie. He stood there and watched four pitches pass him by and took a walk. "I thought this guy was a professional home runhitter?" was the comment I made to a friend of mine. We joked for the rest of the inning even going so far as to claim that Matt Stairs was saving up whatever power was left in his 40 year old body for an epic hit somewhere down the line. Whether we realized it or not, we were dead on.

After an unimpressive 17 at bats (one home run mixed in) and two less than great pinch hits this postseason (2 at bats, 3 outs recorded thanks to a double play ball), only the Phils skipper Charlie Manuel could have predicted this. Charlie has seemingly pulled every right card this season. Many fans must have been wondering why Geoff Jenkins, and not Stairs, pinch hit earlier in the game when they needed a run. But in yet another amazing display of his magical coaching moves, Cholly pulled the right card again.

Stairs may have endeared himself more to the Philly faithful with his brutal honesty after the game. "I swing for the fences," he said. "That's how I've been my whole career. I think of home runs. It carries over from batting practice. I try to hit every ball out of the ballpark. I'm not going to lie, it's fun when you're there and you're hitting balls out of the ballpark. The biggest thing is to see how far you're going to hit the ball."

If nothing else, Stairs may have become the hero of every middle aged man who plays slow pitch softball.