Rick Rogers: McGwire items still have home on office walls

On Monday, retired professional baseball player and one-time single-season home run king Mark McGwire confirmed what everyone who followed baseball suspected — he used steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.

This was not a shock.

But this is still unfortunate, considering what McGwire’s home run chase with Sammy Sosa did for the game of baseball and the nation in 1998.

As I write this column, I am surrounded by memories of McGwire’s magical season in 1998. Three framed newspapers from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch chronicling McGwire’s historic 62nd home run that broke Roger Maris’ long-standing single-season home run record, and his 70th homer are up on the walls of my office.

That summer was one most St. Louis Cardinal fans will never forget. We watched every at-bat McGwire took that season, not wanting to miss one of his historic long balls. Crowds showed up hours before the start of games at stadiums around the nation to watch Big Mac launch ball, after ball, after ball over the fence.

McGwire was quickly becoming the baseball version of Zeus.

The reason McGwire’s run to 70 home runs was special for myself is because it was the last time the Cardinals brought together the love of the game for my grandparents.

During the summer and fall of 1998, my grandfather was suffering from dementia and other health ailments. He moved from his home to a skilled nursing home.

His health was failing quickly. My grandparents, during their retirement, lived and breathed Cardinal baseball. They would eat dinner early so to make sure they returned home in time to catch the first pitch of that night’s game. Some of my fondest memories of my childhood involved my grandparents taking me to games at the old Busch Stadium, or sitting in the living room with them and watching the big game on TV.

To this day, my grandmother is the biggest Cardinal fan I know, and tries to keep up with all the players at the tender age of 88.

While my grandfather was ill, the one thing that connected him to all of his loved ones were the Cardinals and McGwire’s home run chase. During my visits with him at the nursing home, the first thing he would say is, “Did he see the home run McGwire hit?” He wanted to know how many home runs McGwire had at that point in the season, and how close he was to the record. It was all he talked about.

Baseball and McGwire were his connections to his family at a time when the memories were fading fast.

McGwire broke Maris’ home run record with his 62nd blast on Sept. 8, 1998, and hit his 70th home run on Sept. 27, of that year.

My grandfather passed away one month later.

During my last visit with him in October, he was so happy about McGwire breaking the record, and I will never forget him saying, “I was happy I lived to see it.”

That’s why the framed McGwire newspapers still have a place in my office. For me, steroids or not, McGwire’s ability to hit home runs brought my family joy at a time of sorrow in 1998. And I am sure he did the same for several more people that year.

McGwire’s admission to using steroids and performance-enhancing drugs is not a surprise, and his use of the drugs during his playing career is disappointing.

Now that his secret is out, McGwire, who will serve as the Cardinals’ new hitting coach this year, has a platform to educate young ballplayers on the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

He stated over and over again during his admission to using Monday that he wished he never touched the stuff. Now, he has a chance to tell today’s youth the dangers of the drugs — both physically and mentally.

If McGwire fails to do good through his admission of guilt by educating others, that will be his biggest loss — not his possible banishment from the Baseball Hall of Fame or that his career baseball stats are now considered by many to be tainted.

No matter how he will be perceived by the general public, McGwire will always have a special place in my family’s heart — steroids or not.

Rick Rogers is the publisher of the Daily News.