The mid-February departure of the Red Sox equipment truck from Fenway bound for Florida has always been a pivotal event. It shows that spring training is close, and hot-stove league talk will soon become talk about the coming season. 1999 was no exception.
In an article entitled "Questions surround the Sox", the Globe's Gordon Edes spoke of the absence of slugger Mo Vaughn, who had been on the roster since the early 90's. It was obvious that Edes felt that the atmosphere on the team would be at least a little less tense ".Besides the 40 home runs, .337 average, and 115 rbi's, only this: a camp so quiet, you'll be able to hear the wind ruffle the bristles on top of Dan Duquette's head. No weight controversy, no public wishing the Rocket and Jose (Canseco) were still here, no contract squabbles, no Duke-bashing, no strip clubs, no alcohol and drug innuendo, no (John) Harrington bashing…no State of the Sox address, no pick a team speculation, no king of the clubhouse. Edes appeared to feel that Vaughn, a former MVP, had worn out his welcome in Boston. It had not always been that way.
In his book Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston, Howard Bryant traces Vaughn's Sox career, and the first few years were quite positive. He credits Mo's treating people with dignity as a big factor in his MVP selection in 95, though the team was swept by Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs. "Vaughn was a superstar," he wrote, "an MVP who represented Boston…Tony Maserotti believed that Vaughn was the most popular Red Sox player in a generation. What no one else could have guessed was that 95, supposedly the beginning of a new era of winning ball and improved race relations, would be Mo Vaughn's high point in Boston."
According to Bryant, Mo became angry when Roger Clemens was allowed to walk after the 96 season. He went to Toronto and immediately won two more Cy Youngs (the s-word was not even being mentioned yet). Vaughn also regretted the departure of outfielder Ellis Burks and Mo's hitting coach and mentor Mike Easler, two proud and dissatisfied black men. His relations with Duquette soured as he saw a man who never played baseball past college run a legend like Rocket out of town.
Following 95, Vaughn signed a three-year contract extension that ran through 98. Even then, negotiations were tense. Mo's personal life began to spin out of control. Earlier in 95, he had been involved in a fight at a Boston night club involving some known gang members. Later he punched a customer at the Foxy Lady, a Rhode Island strip club. His presence there apparently offended the Sox' straight-laced CEO, John Harrington. In early 98, a DUI arrest resulted in an arraignment; not a single member of the front office appeared on Vaughn's behalf.
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