He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, between 1932 and 1948, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers, primarily as a shortstop.

Improving on almost all of his offensive statistics, Vaughan played in 152 games, batting .314 with 97 RBI, seventh- and fifth-best in the NL respectively.

Although he led the league in errors again with an identical 46 to the previous year, due to his increased playing time his fielding percentage improved a bit from .934 to .945.

While finishing fourth in the race for the batting title at .333, he led the league in OBP at .431, helped by his league-leading walk total of 94.

Vaughan not only posted career bests in the three Triple Crown categories, he led all of baseball with a .385 average, a .491 on-base percentage, and a 1.098 OPS.

Although he was third in National League MVP voting behind Gabby Hartnett and Dizzy Dean, he was named Player of the Year by The Sporting News.

[8] He also continued to improve defensively, as he led the league in total chances in 1938–39 while finishing in the top three in fielding percentage four times.

In the 1941 All-Star Game, Vaughan hit two home runs, but was upstaged by a ninth-inning, three-run homer by American Leaguer Ted Williams.

The fans were outraged at his trade to Brooklyn and his mysterious death years later helped coin the phrase "The Ghost of Arky" when times got tough.

On December 12, 1941, after a decade as the Pirates' starting shortstop, Vaughan was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Pete Coscarart, Luke Hamlin, Babe Phelps, and Jimmy Wasdell.

Vaughan's tenure with the Dodgers got off to a rough start, as he failed to hit .300 for the first time in his career, finishing at .277 with just two home runs.

[3] He still managed to make the All-Star team as the starter at third base, and actually finished third in the league in fielding percentage, but the season was a disappointment overall.

Vaughan appeared in three games in the 1947 World Series, all as a pinch hitter, reaching base twice on a walk and a double.

[3] Vaughan was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, following which Vaughan's daughter Patricia received this brief, handwritten congratulatory letter: I was a substitute tackle on the Fullerton High School championship 130-pound team and remember Arky as our star halfback--fast, hard-nosed and even then a real professional.Sincerely,Richard Nixon[13]As early as July 1972, Nixon, then the President of the United States, had named Vaughan the starting shortstop on his "All-Time" National League All-Star Team's pre-war (1925–1945) component, citing as his "sentimental reason" their high school connection while stating his belief that "most experts would include Arky on a team if he were rated on hitting ability alone".

[17] In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included Vaughan in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

In his New Historical Baseball Abstract, published in 2001, Bill James rated Vaughan as the second-best shortstop in major league history, behind fellow Pirate and mentor Honus Wagner.

[19] After leaving the Seals, Vaughan bought a ranch in Eagleville, California, where he retired to fish, hunt and tend cattle.