Former Red Sox MVP Breaks Silence On HGH Use Near End Of His Career

Major League Baseball was once rocked by the Mitchell Report, a 2007 document which detailed performance-enhancing drug use by 89 former MLB players.

Boston Red Sox star first baseman Mo Vaughn, the 1995 American League Most Valuable Player, was one of those 89. The report offered evidence that Vaughn had been sold human growth hormone (HGH) in 2001. HGH, however, was not a banned substance until 2005, two years after Vaughn retired.

The Mitchell Report isn't inherently a blemish on Vaughn's legacy for that reason: what he was doing wasn't illegal, strictly speaking. At the same time, the 57-year-old, who has largely shied away from the public eye after his playing career, hadn't ever addressed the allegations.

That changed on Sunday, when Vaughn admitted to using HGH for the first time publicly, stating that he did not consider that decision to be a blemish on his legacy. He was struggling to manage a knee injury that would eventually end his playing career at the age of 35.

“I was trying to do everything I could,” Vaughn said during a recent interview with The Athletic. “I knew I had a bad, degenerative knee. I was shooting HGH in my knee. Whatever I could do to help the process...”

Vaughn played for the Red Sox from 1991 to 1998, making three American League All-Star teams to go with his MVP award. He played for the Anaheim Angels the next two seasons before missing the 2001 campaign due to injury.

Finally, Vaughn played two seasons for the New York Mets prior to his retirement, totaling -1.2 rWAR. He fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year of eligibility in 2009.

PED use may be one of the most taboo subjects around baseball, but every player's story is different.

Vaughn wanted to be back on the field to keep his playing career alive, and he used a substance that wasn't banned, even if he had to seek it out himself instead of obtaining it from team doctors. Few Red Sox fans will hold that against him, especially because it occurred after he left Boston.