This season marks the 20th anniversary of the 1998 campaign, in which Mark McGwire of the Cardinals broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record. McGwire went on to hit 70 home runs that season, and that record stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. 

While the home run chase between McGwire and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs two decades ago was at the time a towering moment for baseball, much of the shine has come off in the intervening years. That's of course a consequence of the steroid scandal that engulfed baseball not so long ago. In 2010, McGwire famously admitted to using banned PEDs at various points during his 16-year big-league career. To hear McGwire tell it, he used steroids in an effort to stay healthy and avoid the injuries that plagued him so often. Whatever the reasons, McGwire's admission likely cost him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and it certainly caused a large swath of fans to dismiss his achievements at the plate. 

To mark the complicated anniversary of the '98 season, Jayson Stark of The Athletic caught up with McGwire. It's a must-read piece, particularly when Stark asks McGwire whether he could've hit all those home runs without the use of PEDs: 

 "Absolutely," he replied, emphatically. "I just know myself. I just know. I was a born home run hitter. I mean, unfortunately, I did [take PEDs]. And I've regretted that. I've talked about that. I regretted it. I didn't need to. That's the thing. Didn't need to.

"But I know," he went on. "Deep down inside, I know me as a hitter. And I know what I did in that box. And I know how strong my mind is. And I know what kind of hitter I became. And yes. Yes. Definitely."

Not much room for interpretation there. It makes sense that McGwire would have such unflagging belief in his own abilities -- that's pretty much demanded of high-level athletes. The question, though, is essentially unanswerable. We can't know the extent to which PEDs helped McGwire increase his power and perhaps dodge injury. We do know McGwire had tremendous power in any context. This, after all, is a slugger who piled up 49 home runs as a 23-year-old rookie in 1987 -- well before he says his PED use began. 

Whatever the case, McGwire's use of PEDs will be at least as much a part of his baseball story as those 583 home runs he hit. That's obviously the case some 20 years after he made history.