On December 28, 1998, Mark McGwire was picked as The Associated Press male athlete of the year for 1998 for breaking Roger Maris’s single season home run record and for helping save the game of baseball. His home run mark not only served to help the St. Louis Cardinals in their season, but also helped to win back fans for the whole sport following the 1994 players’ strike.
Mark McGwire at bat, 1998 (Jon Gudorf Photography / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license)