Ex-Red Sox star Mo Vaughn makes shocking admission about using PEDs during MLB stint

Mo Vaughn was once a feared slugger in Major League Baseball, playing a total of 13 seasons for three different teams. In a recent interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Vaughn admitted that he didn't always do things the right way.

The highlight of Mo Vaughn's career was winning the 1995 American League MVP Award for the Boston Red Sox, and he did so at a time when steroid use was prevalent in Major League Baseball. In the interview, Vaughn explained that he used performance-enhancing drugs to deal with injuries.

"I was trying to do everything I could," the now-57-year-old explained. "I knew I had a bad, degenerative knee. I was shooting HGH in my knee. Whatever I could do to help the process..."

In 2007, the Mitchell Report came out detailing steroid use in baseball, and Mo Vaughn was one of the 89 players listed. HGH was the supplement that Vaughn admitted to taking, but that was not a banned substance until 2005 by Major League Baseball.

Andy Pettitte was also named in the Mitchell Report, and he used a similar reason as Vaughn as to why he took Human Growth Hormone.

“I felt an obligation to get back to my team as soon as possible,” Pettitte said in 2007. “For this reason, and only this reason, for two days I tried human growth hormone. Though it was not against baseball rules, I was not comfortable with what I was doing, so I stopped.”

Mo Vaughn blamed new MLB rules for rise in player injuries

Even though Mo Vaughn has been away from the game of baseball for more than two decades, he still follows baseball closely. Vaughn is not a fan of some of the new rules in baseball, as he believes that is a reason that so many injuries are popping up. Speaking to TMZ Sports in April 2024, Vaughn stated it's MLB's belief in analytics that is behind the rule changes and the injuries.

“When you're out there giving max effort every pitch, you are going to get hurt. That's my philosophy behind it,” Vaughn said to TMZ Sports.

“There’s a place for analytics in the game and we must use those things. But the good managers know the field. They understand what they see. And what they see is far better than anything that can come on a sheet.”