Maurice Samuel Vaughn
Anaheim Angels 
First base #42

    Nearing the 300-home run career mark this season, Vaughn first tasted baseball greatness with the Wareham Gatemen in the Cape League, garnering 1988 playoff MVP honors and all-star status in leading the Gatemen to the Cape League championship under coach Stan Meek.
    Playing alongside fellow future Major League star Chuck Knoblauch and tying the second baseman for the team lead in doubles that season (17), Vaughn caught scouts' attention and began his pro career the following year (1989), breaking in with Double A-New Britain. Signed by Red Sox scout Matt Sczesny, Vaughn left Seton Hall University having set the school record in career home runs (57) and runs batted in (218) after just three collegiate seasons. He hit 28 home runs his freshman year in 1987, also setting a school 
single-season mark.
    Vaughn's feats and accomplishments with the Boston Red Sox set him far apart from that of routine players.In 1995, Vaughn smashed 39 home runs and collected 126 RBI to earn American League Most Valuable Player honors, following that campaign with a 44-home run, 143-RBI season in 1996.The first Major League player since Jim Rice in 1978 to hit 40 homers and have 200 hits in the same season (1996) and a three-time American League All-Star, Vaughn seemed destined to play out a Hall of Fame-caliber career 
with Boston.
    In 1999, However, Vaughn signed as a free agent with Anaheim, but battled injuries for the majority of the first-half of the season. Still, Vaughn fought back to hit 33 home runs and knock in 108. A Norwalk, Connecticut native, Vaughn still calls Easton, Massachusetts his home. Cape Cod Baseball League File Photo by Sean Walsh