Boston Red Sox legends: Marvelous Mo Vaughn

Popular personalities have always been a staple for the Boston Red Sox and “The Hit Dog” Mo Vaughn reigned supreme for the team in the mid-1990’s.

Left-handed hitters and the Boston Red Sox have fit together rather nicely over the course of franchise history. From the early 20th-century stars of Tris Speaker and Babe Ruth (a pitcher with 49 career home runs in Boston) and on down the line, lefties have spanned decades for the Red Sox.

Names like Ted Williams to Carl Yastrzemski to Fred Lynn carried the torch across the ’40’s, ’50’s, ’60’s and ’70’s as some of the franchise’s best hitters.

The late 1980’s into the ’90’s gave fans Wade Boggs and Mike Greenwell, but it was first baseman Mo Vaughn who brought the wallop.

Vaughn spent eight seasons manning first base for the Red Sox. In the process, he had 230 home runs and 752 RBI’s during his Boston career. He also hit .304, had 199 doubles and had a slugging percentage of .936.

On his career, Vaughn ended with 328 home runs across three teams and 12 seasons. He finished with a career average of .293 and 1064 RBI’s.

Pressure to win and end the wretched “Curse of the Bambino” fell on multiple people in the ’90’s, with Vaughn being one of them. While putting up impressive numbers, we know he wasn’t able to shatter the curse as made only two playoff appearances during his Boston years.

Clashes with management and Boston Globe reporter Will McDonough, plus some off the field trouble, helped usher Vaughn out of town in free agency after the 1998 season.

Prior to leaving, though, Vaughn enjoyed eight seasons as a (mostly) fan favorite and helped highlight the Boston teams of the ’90’s.