THE HIT DOG COMETH

A Conversation with Mo “Hit Dog” Vaughn of the Rejuvenated Orioles
By Edmund Fitzgerald, Baltimore Sun

September dawns with the Orioles finding themselves in an unusual place: in the race for the AL East. The Bird’s resurgence following three disappointing seasons can be traced to a number of factors, but none greater than the mid-season signing of Mo Vaughn, the aging slugger brought in as an expensive, desperation free agent in the summer.

Despite not joining the team until mid-July, Vaughn leads the Orioles in home runs with 24. And more surprising given his long layoff, the “Hit Dog” is hitting for average as well: .295 in more than 250 at-bats. This reporter sat down with Vaughn for a conversation about the resurgence of his career, and of the Orioles:

BS: Mo, Orioles fans have embraced you in wonderful fashion, with some dressing up in Mo Vaughn costumes, and a section in the left field of Camden Yards dubbed the “Mo Mo’s” How’s it feel?

MO: Those costumes make me look fat. I’m not fat. I’m big.

BS: Is it true you gained 20 pounds in the spring and early summer, while you waited for a team to call?

MO: No. Not true. More like 25.

BS: Is it true most of the time you were waiting for the phone to ring you lay on the couch watching SportsCenter?

MO: No. Not true. I caught up on “The Young and the Restless.” For a while I was about one season behind. Thank God for Tivo.

BS: Did you work out at all during that time?

MO: Work out?

BS: You know, train, excercise.

MO: I played some Wii Baseball. Suckas in that game got some nasty curveballs.

BS: And you waited for the phone to ring?

MO: Yea. I don’t have an agent, so they’d be calling me direct. My last agent screwed me over big time. Still owes me money. Probably why teams didn’t want to touch me.

BS: So how did it feel when the Orioles finally called?

MO: I hung up on ‘em! I thought it was my friend down the street, Buckie Pollack, playing a prank. He’s always doing s— like that. Guy says, “This is Brad Stewart, director of Player Development for the Baltimore Orioles.” I said “Buckie, cut it the f— out,” then hung up.

BS: Then….?

MO: Then I saw the caller ID had a Baltimore area code. So I hit star-69. When the operator answered “Baltimore Orioles, how may I direct your call?” I said, “This is Mo. Mo Vaughn. You know, the Hit Dog. Someone just called me.”

BS: They offered you a big contract. Some fans at first thought it was crazy.

MO: Yea, what are they saying now, man? They want ‘mo Mo. ‘mo Mo, they keep shouting. I’m worth every penny.

BS: And on July 31st, you hit your 400th career homerun.

MO: Yea, and the prick who caught it wanted $500 bucks to give me back the ball! Five hundred, can you believe that?

BS: The O’s are paying you more than 12 million dollars a year….

MO: That’s not the point. $500 for a lousy baseball! Extortion, that’s what it is. I told him I’d give ‘em two box seat tickets to the next homestand or he can keep the damn ball, and he took the deal. I’m sending the ball to Cooperstown.

BS: So now the Orioles are still vying for the AL East title, and leading the wildcard race. Are you planning any October heroics?

MO: Oh, yea, man. Hit Dog just getting warmed up, baby. Just gettin’ warmed up. Listen, I gotta go, my show is on.