No apologies because 1998 was a blast

This is the week I'm supposed to apologize on a couple of old counts pending against me.

First, for still relishing the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Second, for being a media lout who didn't expose baseball's steroidal use back then.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, but no apologies here.

Monday was the 10-year anniversary of McGwire's 62nd home run that broke Roger Maris' single-season record.

I was in St. Louis to witness the homer off Steve Trachsel. Remember: McGwire missed first base, he went back to touch it, Cubs infielders congratulation him as he rounded the bases, he embraced the Maris family, Sosa came in from right field to hug him -

Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but I don't feel guilty at all for enjoying the memories.

Heck, I camped out down there for five days waiting for it to happen. So did other reporters from around the country. I sat in the press box next to The Washington Post's Thomas Boswell.

The entire six-month home run competition between McGwire and Sosa was terrifically compelling and compellingly terrific.

They held news conferences together and separately all September. McGwire was the straight man. Sosa was the jester, right up to the final weekend in Houston when he was going for the record and the Cubs were going for a playoff berth.

A Houston reporter asked Sosa about a NASA astronaut. Sosa turned a blank look toward a Cubs public-relations person, who explained the question. Sosa ad-libbed an amusing response and everybody smiled.

That was September of '98 - miles of smiles, laughs and giggles.

Looking back, it was as much fun as a baseball season could be. Yes, more so than the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005, the Cubs' fabled Summer of '69, the Sox' wild South Side Hitmen season of '77 and even '08 with both Chicago teams in first place.

This week, 10 years later, to me 1998 isn't any less entertaining, exciting or electric.

"Baseball is back," is how Time magazine characterized the season back then.

Now that publication, journalism in general and I included are supposed to be ashamed for not exposing McGwire, Sosa and others for using performance enhancers.

Let others take the fall if they want, but I won't.

McGwire came to Comiskey Park that June. I stood next to him and marveled at how gigantic he was and how prodigious his home runs were.

What did I know? Look at me and you'll understand I know as much about bodybuilding as brain surgery and wouldn't know the supplement Androstenedione from the singer Celine Dion.

The scandals came later, complete with Congressional hearings, drug testing, suspicious records and so many more dubious developments.

But along with them came baseball's continued growth.

With attendance records being broken, apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't feel all that badly about the season that allegedly saved baseball.

Countless fans are proclaiming that 1998 was what it was - basically another era to digest and discuss in the fascinating evolution of the game.

It was memorable, my memories remain fond, and I'm not apologizing for that.

mimrem@dailyherald.com