Former baseball player Mo Vaughn recently admitted to using human growth hormone (HGH) in an effort to extend his career in a recent interview with The Athletic. Vaughn confirmed information disclosed in the 2007 Mitchell Report, stating that he used HGH to help with his degenerative knee issues. Despite being named in the report, Vaughn does not view it as a stain on his legacy.
Vaughn’s relationship with his son rekindled his love for the game after a long estrangement. His physical troubles began in 1999 when he injured his ankle and knee, leading to more injuries throughout his career. Vaughn made three separate purchases of HGH in 2001, but did not consent to an interview with the author of the Mitchell Report.
It was revealed that former Mets employee Kirk Radomski provided Vaughn with HGH, as Vaughn was “afraid of the big needles.” Vaughn stated that the HGH injections required smaller needles. Major League Baseball did not ban HGH until 2005, nearly two years after Vaughn’s final game, and implemented random blood testing in 2013.
Former pitcher Andy Pettitte, also named in the Mitchell Report for using HGH, admitted to trying the substance to recover from an injury. Pettitte has struggled to gain traction in the Hall of Fame voting due to his admission. Vaughn, who was the 1995 American League MVP, fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2009. He played 12 seasons in the MLB and finished with 328 home runs and a .293 batting average. Vaughn’s story sheds light on the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances in baseball and the impact it has had on players’ legacies.
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