Mo Vaughn, a three-time All-Star first baseman and the 1995 American League Most Valuable Player Award winner, has admitted to The Athletic that he used human growth hormone in an attempt to extend his playing career. “I was trying to do everything I could,” he told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. “I knew I had a bad, degenerative knee. I was shooting HGH in my knee. Whatever I could do to help the process …”
Vaughn’s confession validates his inclusion in the Mitchell Report, an independent investigation into illegal performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball conducted in 2007 by former United States Senator George J. Mitchell of Maine. (You can relive the full report for yourself by clicking here.) Vaughn, one of nearly 90 players named as part of the report, declined to speak with Mitchell when the politician approached him about his findings.
Indeed, Mitchell found substantive evidence connecting Vaughn to former New York Mets batboy Kirk Radomski, including several checks addressed to Radomski and key contact information. Mitchell reported that Vaughn, who was looking to recover quicker from an ankle injury, was referred to Radomski by Vaughn’s then-teammate Glenallen Hill in early 2001. That’s notable given that Vaughn would miss the entire 2001 season following surgery to repair a ruptured biceps tendon.
Mitchell, too, noted that Radomski told him Vaughn purchased HGH instead of anabolic steroids because Vaughn was “afraid of the big needles.” HGH application allowed for smaller needles. It should be noted that MLB did not ban HGH usage until 2005, meaning that Vaughn did not technically violate the league’s rules, even if his PED usage did violate the spirit of clean and fair play.
Vaughn played in parts of 12 big-league seasons, though he was never the same after missing the 2001 campaign. Overall, he hit for a 132 OPS+ and launched 328 home runs. He spent the majority of his career with the Boston Red Sox, but he also authored multi-year stints with the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Mets. His contributions were estimated to be worth 27.1 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference’s calculations.
