Boston Red Sox: 50 greatest players of all-time
By Phil Watson
The Boston Red Sox took Seton Hall University slugger Mo Vaughn with the 23rd overall pick in the 1989 June Amateur Draft and after a couple of seasons of growing pains, he turned into one of the top power threats in the game.
Vaughn debuted in June 1991 and saw part-time duty at first base the rest of the way, becoming a platoon player in 1992.
By 1993, he was the full-time starter and cracked 29 homers and drove in 101 runs, with more to come.
In the lockout-shortened 1995 season, Vaughn was the American League MVP, hitting 39 homers and leading the AL with 126 RBI while pacing Boston to its first AL East crown in five years.
His encore in 1996 may have been better, with career-highs of 44 homers and 143 RBI while finishing fifth in the MVP voting. He was fourth in the voting after a 40-homer campaign in 1998.
Vaughn left the Red Sox in December 1998 to sign a free-agent deal with the Anaheim Angels.
A three-time All-Star with Boston, Vaughn hit .304/.394/.936 in parts of eight seasons, an OPS+ of 140, and had 230 homers, 752 RBI and 628 runs scored.
He played in the postseason twice with the Red Sox, going 0-for-14 in a three-game sweep by the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 ALDS, but following that up by going 7-for-17 with two homers and seven RBI in 1998, though the Indians won the ALDS in four games.
Vaughn missed the 2001 season with a ruptured biceps tendon and was traded to the New York Mets in December 2001. An arthritic left knee ended his 2003 season after 27 games and he retired that winter.