Former Major League Baseball player Matt Stairs had his home in Maine robbed while he was in New Brunswick for his induction into the provincial sports Hall of Fame.

Stairs, a Fredericton native, was in the province to receive the honour and attend a few charity events when he received a call from his daughter in Maine on Saturday night.

She told Stairs someone had broken into the home and stole some of his championship rings.

Stairs told CBC News, he suspects the crime was targeted.

"Well I've got a feeling they knew what they wanted. I believe they were looking for the World Series ring and, of course, I had that with me," Stairs said.

"They took all kinds of jewellery. There was the NLCS division championship (ring), the American League (ring), the National League ring, my wife's National League pendant, watches and jewellery and stuff. So there was quite a bit of stuff stolen. We won't go into the detail how much was stolen, but put it this way, there was enough so it was a felony case."

Stairs said he is just relieved his family is alright.

"The biggest thing is, you know that stuff is all replaceable, it's just that fact that someone actually broke into your house while you were gone," he said.

"That's the biggest thing that makes me angry. That someone violated our privacy."

Stairs told CBC News that the criminals are not very smart since most of the stolen items have his name engraved on them.

"If they're trying to pawn off my rings, they have my name and the year and all that stuff. So, if you get a 16, 17, 18-year-old punk who's trying to sell stuff to the pawn shops, we talked to all the pawn shops and gave them a heads-up," Stairs said.

"If I get it back, I get it back, but if not, the biggest thing is the safety of the family."

Stairs said this incident makes his decision to move back to New Brunswick that much easier.

"I think it made my decision a lot easier to move back there, to Fredericton of course... I have one daughter going to UNB next year and one graduates in August from hair dressing school," he told CBC News.

Stairs said it's just a matter of when.

"If I could pack up and leave tomorrow, I would," he said.

Stairs, who recently retired from Major League Baseball in August after 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 accepted a sportscast commentator position with the Boston Red Sox earlier this year.