I am currently 43. I have been a baseball fan for many, many years. After the strike ruined season on 1994 baseball was in big trouble.
Enter Mark McGwire to the rescue. As a rookie who had clubbed 49 home runs, still the major league rookie record, he continued on his record setting home run pace. From 1995 - 2000 he was the Darling of Major League Baseball, the fan favorite at the All Star Games.Bud Selig and the Owners enjoyed the record number of fans packing out the stadiums to see Mighty Mark swing for the fences.

Rumors of performance enhancing medicines were surfacing in the 70's and 80's. George Foster of the Reds went from barely hitting home runs to 52 HR's in 1977....Should we question the records of Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson, Boomer Scott, George Brett, Rick Monday, Dave Kingman. Performance enhancing drugs were available at the time...anyone remember the name of Lyle Alzado from the National Football League?

McGwire, Sosa, Bonds. Hall of Fame!!!

So many lame answers that I suspect many of the answers have come from know nothing, prejudiced sports fans, most likely to be closet sports writers.

Baseball Fans, voted fir McGwire, Sosa and Bonds as they rescued MLB from the horrors of the interuption of the baseball season that was engineered intentionally by the TEAM OWNERS.

No one pays to see the Owners, they pay to see the players. A lousy sports writer invaded the privacy of Mark McGwire by putting his noes where it did not belong. How many of you want some newspaper guy looking around in your car? How about your closet?

Mark McGwire was NOT using an Illegal Substance. The Andro that he was using was NOT banned by the US Goverment, nor was it banned from MLB.

People who are unbiased, who look at the facts, know that Baseball owes apologies to McGwire, Bonds and Sosa and that they all belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Yes. Mark McGwire belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York. Mark McGwire was voted by the fans as one of the Greatest Baseball Players in the history of the game.

Mark McGwire was given rave reviews for hitting prowess for hitting the ball with powerful consistency...Baseball Great Ted Williams was complementary of the hitting prowess of McGwire.

Mark McGwire was 6'4...a big man...Babe Ruth was 6'1. Ruth made no effort to take care of his body, neither did Mickey Mantle. Mark McGwire was one of the first baseball players to incorporate weight lifting into his fitness routine.

When you lift weights it is going to make you bigger, this is why football teams and now basketball teams now lift to keep in fit year around.

Mark McGwire, during seasons where he wasn't recovering from injuries, was the best in baseball history in getting consistent wood upon the ball and sending it long distances.

McGwire is a Ruthian figure, who made a greater effort than Babe Ruth to stay in shape. How much better could Ruth, Aaron, Mays, and Mantle have been if they had engaged in the serious weight lifting routines of the modern baseball players....Mark McGwire being the chief pioneer leading the way?

No, no, and no. They cheated. Those other guys you mentioned did not. (Well, Brett used an illegal substance, but that was pine tar, not steroids.)

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. What is it that baseball should apologize to any of them for?

Now that you've added some details, I'll ask you again - what is it that MLB should apologize for? The millions of dollars these players made? Sosa and Bonds are still playing, so they obviously have not been banned from the game or punished for their alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. McGwire is retired, and I have yet to hear anyone from MLB state that he did anything illegal, or say that Bonds or Sosa did either. ( other then Sosa's "accidental" use of a corked bat )
And perhaps you need to look at who votes for the Hall. It is not MLB. The Hall of Fame is an independent organization. And maybe, just maybe, you should wait to pass judgment on whether or not Bonds or Sosa should be in when they are actually eligible, rather then assuming that they will not be voted in.
Yes, baseball allowed these things to take place. Without being allowed to use these drugs, Sosa and McGwire would perhaps be good players, and Bonds certainly was before he started juicing, but should MLB apologize to those players for that? If anything, those players should get down on their knees every night and thank god that they played in a sport that simply put its' collective heads in the sand about this issue.

I think if the apology should go anyway, it should be from MLB to the fans.
They want to draw the crowds to make money, nothing more. They turned the other way to steroids.
It's not like they bounced it off their fans to see if we would buy into it.

I agree The MLB fans are the ones that need the apologies from all steroid taking cheaters!

Is Lyle Alzado in the Hall of Fame? Nope.

After his rookie season, McGwire hit 32, 33, 39 and 22 homers. So, that 49 homers looks like a fluke. McGwire admitted to taking andro during his big homerun years. And, he was paid very well during those big years. But, he doesn't have 600 homers and he only hit .263 during his career. Remember it is the Hall of Fame for great careers not a few very good years and the rest better than average.

George Foster built up to those 52 homers which were 13 more than he had ever hit in a single season. Then, he declined. McGwire didn't decline, and we know why because he was taking a steroids precursor. Bonds admitted during the Grand Jury that he took steroids. Sosa left for a couple years and came back much smaller than before, and he was caught using a corked bat.

Why is George Scott in here? He was never that great of a player. Rick Monday nor Dave Kingman are in the Hall of Fame.

Your argument is weak. Bonds will likely get in the Hall of Fame eventually. But, Sosa nor McGwire's careers warrant serious Hall of Fame consideration.

BTW, all these "medicines" are illegal drugs based on the laws of the US. It is irrelevant if MLB made them illegal or not. These guys were breaking US laws to take these drugs, and they should not be given a free pass by anyone.

And, I am 39. I am just not a person who thinks sports players are heroes for being able to hit a ball further than other people. And, I know these guys were rewarded with more money in a single year than I will make in a lifetime. They have gotten their accolades.

I'll bet one of these days we will find out that a LOT of players violated the substance abuse policy, but that MLB's leaders turned a blind eye to keep attendance up. Right now, there is an investigator in New York (I believe it is) who is ready to provide a list of offenders, but won't yet because he believes MLB will not take appropriate action.

Baseball owes these losers nothing

McGwire did steroids when it was illegal so he shouldn't be in trouble. Sosa did something illegal so he should be (he is) and Bonds is just a cheating loser.

Let's see, only McGwire is even eligible. Baseball is supposed to apologize to Bonds and Sosa for not changing the rules and electing them while they're still playing?

And getting voted to the Hall is an honor, not a right. Nobody is owed an apology for not getting voted in their first year.

I would add that McGwire is hardly the "darling" of most fans now. Many of us feel that we would be the ones, if any, owed an apology for believing in players who were in all probability cheating.

Oh, and just because it may have happened before--although there is no proof that any of the baseball players named used steroids--doesn't make it right now. Racism existed in the past, so it's okay now?

Baseball owes no one an apology..those cheats robbed us of our trust and loyalty