You can relax now. The world's best-kept secret has been revealed: Former baseball slugger Mark McGwire admitted Monday that he did take steroids.

I know, I know, it came to a shock to me as well. I'm stunned as I write this. I was holding out hope that it was just the remnants of all that andro he took in the late 1990s.

In all seriousness, this wasn't a surprise and was a long time coming. In a 20-minute interview with The Associated Press, Mc- Gwire admitted he took human growth hormone, which helped him become one of baseball's all-time great sluggers.

Among the highlights of Mc- Gwire's career was his mind-boggling 70 home runs in 1998, crushing Roger Maris' record of 61, which had stood since 1961.

McGwire, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1997-2001 to close out his career, had a remarkable two-year span of 1998-99 in which he hit 135 home runs, drove in 296 runs and scored 248 runs.

It was just five years ago that McGwire, along with former home run hitters Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa, the latter of whom helped bring baseball to the forefront with his home run race with McGwire, testified before a congressional committee about steroid use.

Palmeiro wagged a finger and said he never used steroids, Sosa pretended there was a language barrier and he didn't understand while McGwire talked about not being there to talk about the past.

Which, of course, was why everyone was there.

It's been almost a decade since McGwire left the game and he's been hounded by allegations since.

That he was coming clean now was interesting. But he had no choice because St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa named him the Cardinals' hitting coach.

With the baseball winter meetings and spring training next month, McGwire was going to have to face the music sooner or later.

LaRussa always has been a friend to McGwire, having managed him in Oakland and in St. Louis. LaRussa is smart enough to know that McGwire should clear the air before it became a nightmare this spring.

Also, LaRussa would love to see McGwire in the Hall of Fame. McGwire had about 25 percent of the 75 percent required to make it to the Hall. By coming clean, McGwire might take that first step to getting there.

"I wished I had never touched steroids," McGwire told the AP. "It was foolish and it was a mistake."

McGwire might eventually become a Hall of Famer and this definitely will help get him. You just wish that it hadn't taken so long.

Better yet, you hope others who made the same mistake will follow his lead.