Not to celebrate that era, but because I was in college that summer and I saw more baseball in person that summer than I have since.

My roommate and I drove up to St Louis the first week of the season for a game and we began going up practically every week thereafter through the season. We saw so many great games and got to experience that summer's HR race first hand. (And, full disclosure I'm a Red Sox fan but developed a true love and appreciation for St Louis baseball)

It's funny to me that the label of "steroid era" has been placed on not only McGwire and Sosa but so many other players. There was no secret that both of those players were taking "supplements". I vividly remember an interview with McGwire when he went into great detail about the types of supplements he was taking with ESPN before a game.

It was back when they were building Mount Davis at the Oakland Coliseum. It was a day game, and construction was actually going on during play. McGwire launched one that landed halfway up Mount Davis. Construction workers dropped what they were doing and chased down the ball. I don't know if he was juiced then or not, but it was monster hit.

I recall his before and after steroid transition with the Athletics. It was a freaky, disturbing look. I was so naive -- I thought he was sick! He hit 49 homers as a non-steroid rookie. You think that would have been enough ...