Mo Vaughn

In the 1989 major-league baseball draft, Vaughn was selected 23rd overall by the Boston Red Sox. His three years in the Sox's minor-league farm system was perhaps the most trying period in the young athlete's career. Not an overnight success in pro baseball, Vaughn suffered through batting slumps that damaged his confidence. After starting off the Red Sox's 1992 season with a poor .189 average, he was shuttled back temporarily to the minor leagues—a move that hurt the rookie player, but that ultimately made him more determined.

Fortunately, the Red Sox employed a gifted batting coach, Mike Easler, known as the Hit Man. Easler worked with Vaughn on his batting stance, preparation, and swing, giving the young player the skills he needed to succeed. "The Hit Man taught me to take all my anger—and after I was sent back to the minors there was a lot of anger—and channel it into the barrel of the bat," Vaughn told Gerry Callahan of Sports Illustrated. Under Easler's tutelage Vaughn developed into a powerhouse hitter the likes of which pro baseball had rarely seen before. Throughout his career Vaughn would express gratitude toward Easler, whom he credited with saving his career.

During his first two full seasons with the Red Sox, 1993-94, Vaughn established himself as a force to be reckoned with. The heaviest player on his team, he used his 6-foot-1, 140-pound frame to his advantage when he stepped up to the plate, socking twenty-nine home runs his first year, and ending the 1994 season with a .310 batting average. But it was during his third year on the team that the 27-year-old first-baseman really shined. After leading the Sox to a division title in September 1995, he emerged onto the field amid chants of "Mo, Mo, Mo" from an adoring crowd at Boston's Fenway Park.

Recognized as the heart and soul of his team, Vaughn was voted the league's Most Valuable Player in 1995. Two other players, Albert Belle and Edgar Martinez, had outdone Vaughn with higher numbers; Belle had fifty home runs, while Vaughn had thirty-nine. But it was not only statistics that determined this award. Players recognized that Vaughn was a leader who infused the Sox with a determination and a belief in themselves to win. "Mo has been carrying this team consistently, day in and day out, and that to me is what makes an MVP," Boston player, Jose Canseco told Callahan of Sports Illustrated. "It's his presence," said third-baseman Tim Naehring. "He brings a confidence and an attitude to this team that is hard to explain."

Vaughn's contributions extended beyond the baseball diamond and into the greater Boston community. In 1994 he established the Mo Vaughn Youth Development Program, a counseling facility for inner-city kids in Dorcester. The Red Sox star also participated in an adopt-a-school program that involved his regular visits to an elementary school in urban Mattapan. Eager to help children, especially those in need, Vaughn had an unusual ability to connect with kids and to influence them as a role model and idol. The slugger captured media attention in 1993 when, before a game, he told an eleven-year-old cancer patient that he would try to hit a home run for him. The home run came in his third at-bat.

Vaughn's performance was stronger than ever in his remaining three years with the Red Sox. In 1996 he knocked forty-four home runs and batted .326; two years later he hit for a career high .337 average. But an ongoing feud between Vaughn and the Sox's general manager, Dan Duquette, prompted the All-Star player to test the free-agent market after the 1998 season. Duquette had told the media that he was concerned about the player's alcohol use after Vaughn flipped his truck while driving home from a strip club the previous winter. Vaughn, acquitted of drunken-driving charges in the incident, complained that Duquette was trying to wage a smear campaign against him. In August 1998, Boston's powerhouse hitter announced that he was leaving. He had been courted by the Anaheim Angels with one of the most lucrative deals in baseball: a six-year, $80 million contract.