Because for years, did we ever have any doubt?  But for McGwire, who said “It was foolish” his admission came, a little too late. It won’t help his hopeful enshrinement to the Baseball Hall of Fame, nor does it help his respectability as one of the top home run hitters of all-time.

You see McGwire also admitted, years later, that he used performance enhancing drugs during that media hyped season home run race with Sammy Sosa in 1998 that saw him hit a record 70 home runs.  And at that time there were always the questions about him and Sosa. Except baseball was happy then that home runs were bring hit out of the ballpark in a record pace as the game was recovering from a nasty labor war between the owners and players.

All that time the questions were being asked. The speculation was always about reconfigurations of outfield fences, or that the baseball was different and easier to hit out of the park.  Yet, guys like McGwire, Sosa, and others always denied that steroids and other body enhancement drugs were the reason.

They made us, the media, and you the fans look like fools. Because they fabricated their reasons for becoming such proficient home run hitters and all the time you looked at McGwire, you saw Sosa, and were amazed at how big the arms were, and how deep the home runs were being hit out of the park.

It made sense then, as much as it is now.  McGwire denied using performance enhancing drugs before a Congressional Committee and his 538 home runs are eighth on the career all-time list.  Barry Bonds is no angel here and will always be the center of attention with his denial of allegations that he did what McGwire did.

Baseball owners knew it was happening, and perhaps so did Commissioner Selig, Home runs put people back in the seats and players hitting the long bombs out of the park were getting their lucrative pay checks.

But getting back to the admission, Monday that is putting McGwire back on the national map.  He was appointed the hitting coach for La Russa’s Cardinals in November.  Back in baseball now and teaching hitters, hopefully the right way to hit a home run out of the ballpark.

McGwire had to finally come clean or the scrutiny would continue at every Major League ballpark in 2010.  Too bad it came years later, that admission. The home runs he hit are still questionable. They are surly under consideration when the name Mark McGwire comes up every year now for enshrinement to Cooperstown. He came up short again last week when the ballots were counted.

It would have helped him to come clean years ago when this all started, most of all telling the truth then would have diminished the bad image that baseball received and at times continues/   McGwire said he did not tell the truth then because he feared there would be legal jeopardy.

He may get those sympathizers that give a second chance, Many, in the baseball community believe the steroid home run race is still a disgrace and the punishment is always denying Mark McGwire enshrinement to the Hall of Fame. All of those home runs in the record book now with this admission deserve an asterisk.

BOXING IS DISGRACED WITH FALLOUT OF PACQUIAO-MAYWEATHER:  A mediator could not get the principles involved with welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, on a compromise over blood testing procedures and now what was supposed to be the mega fight of all time if off.

Instead the boxing world prepares for a mediocre fight.  Pacquiao will defend against Joshua Clottey the native of Ghana now residing in the Bronx. That fight will be televised on HBO Pay-Per-View on March 13^th, the original Pacquiao-Mayweather date, from the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium and does not have the magnitude that was anticipated with Pacquiao and Mayweather,

So where did the two fighters go wrong, as well as the promoters, in this case Bob Arum of Top Rank who promotes Pacquiao and Richard Schaefer of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions that represented Mayweather?   According to Arum, Pacquiao made some concessions as to timing of three blood samples prior to and after the fight.

The blood testing issue was the obstacle that prevented this fight from officially being announced in New York City this week. Arum requested a mediator with hopes there would be some movement to getting the top two fighters in the world in the ring. A mediator who Arum used to negotiate a proper deal for Pacquiao when is fighter left the Golden Boy promotion.

Arum is livid, so are boxing fans   The sport has once again become a travesty because of a ridiculous blood testing procedure called by Mayweather that would have been conducted anyway by the sanctioning Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather wanted to use the Olympic style blood testing procedures that are done three times, Prior to the pre fight press conference, 30 days before the fight, and after the fight

Either way, the Nevada Commission would have done similar testing, and if everyone is clean there are no concerns. The biggest paydays for Pacquiao and Mayweather go down the drain.  The questions persist. Is Mayweather backing away from Pacquiao, or is Pacquiao with his initial resiliency to taking blood hiding something? Pacquiao is a record seven- division title holder having defeated Miguel Cotto last year and is going for number eight against Clottey as a junior middleweight.

e-mail Rich Mancuso:  Ring786@aol.com

The list reads like an All-Star squad for the era. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Raphael Palmiero, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez and the latest, Manny Ramirez.

The Dodger leftfielder had a 50-game suspension handed down on Thursday, perfect timing for the subject of performance-enhancing drugs to be drummed up again with A-Rod making his regular season debut the next day.

It’s not as if Rodriguez was going to fly under the radar, anyway, but the topic will reach new heights over the weekend. He can deflect all the questions that he wants and say that he is only going to talk about baseball, but the media frenzy that is sure to follow him around for the rest of the season and possibly longer is not going to let up.

Some may feel that with Ramirez being suspended some of the negative attention surely awaiting Rodriguez tonight at Camden Yards in Baltimore will be offset and directed towards the Washington Heights native. While that may be somewhat true, A-Rod should not get too cozy.

It is true that Rodriguez has not been penalized and his steroid admissions, no matter how inaccurate they may seem, should be viewed as an attempt to gain some sort of compassion  and forgiveness. In Ramirez’s case, the only information we have to go by is what has been the short statement he released and what was reported by Major League Baseball.

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue,” Ramirez said in the statement. “He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing: I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.”

What Ramirez was actually suspended for was human chorionic gonatropin, more commonly known as hCG. Without further information or the ingredients of the prescription Ramirez’s doctor gave him, we can only speculate why he would be ingesting it. Known as one of the more potent concoctions used as Post Cycle therapy. hCG is popular amongst steroid users following a period, or cycle, to help maintain the effects of the substances and kick-start the natural production of testosterone after ingesting the synthetic version.

What triggered all of this was Ramirez having one of his Spring Training tests come back with a high testosterone level. All of that would seem to add up and point to Ramirez using performance-enhancing drugs to the point of including PCT, something a beginner does not normally have the knowledge of doing.

It will be hard for Ramirez to lean on the “amateur hour” excuse that Rodriguez used during his admission press conference while explaining how he and his then-unnamed cousin were taking steroids.