MLB news: Mo Vaughn admits using HGH to extend career

Mo Vaughn, the 12-year MLB slugger, has confirmed using human growth hormone to extend his big league career. 

Vaughn, who won the 1995 AL MVP, gave an interview with The Athletic, where he admitted using a performance-enhancing drug to recover from a knee injury late in his career. 

“I was trying to do everything I could,” Vaughn explained. “I knew I had a bad, degenerative knee. I was shooting HGH in my knee. Whatever I could do to help the process.”

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Boston Red Sox first baseman Mo Vaughn in action at the plate at Fenway Park during the 1998 season. (RVR Photos-USA Today Sports)

Vaughn was among players named in the infamous Mitchell Report, which dove into the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in baseball in 2007. 

In Vaughn’s case, the report found evidence that he had purchased, on three separate occasions, HGH in 2001 – a year he didn’t play after injuring his left ankle and knee chasing a foul ball. 

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MLB didn’t ban HGH until 2005, two years after Vaughn’s final game. He closed out his career with the New York Mets in 2003 after a 27-game stint with the team. 

In his prime, Vaughn was one of the league’s most feared power hitters, with his best season coming in 1995, his MVP campaign with the Boston Red Sox. He mashed 39 homers with a league-leading 126 RBI while slashing .300/.388/.575 with a .963 OPS. 

Boston Red Sox infielder Mo Vaughn in action against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. (USA Today Sports)

The next season, Vaughn hit a career-high 44 big flies with 143 RBI, while hitting .326/.420/.583 with a 1.003 OPS. 

After eight years with the Red Sox, where he hit 230 of his 328 career homers, Vaughn spent two seasons with the Los Angeles Angels from 1999-2000 before that injury in 2001 that wiped him out for the entire year. 

Vaughn joined the Mets in 2002, playing 139 games while hitting 26 homers with 72 RBI with a .259 batting average. 

Boston Red Sox infielder Mo Vaughn against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. (USA Today Sports)

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Vaughn made three All-Star teams during his career (1995, 1996, 1998), all with the Red Sox. 

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