MARK McGWIRE

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Disgraced ex-baseball star Mark McGwire said on Monday he used steroids during his record-breaking home run season, dealing another blow to the drug-tainted image of America’s national pastime.

The 46-year-old former Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals star expressed regret and confirmed long-held suspicions that he used performance-enhancing drugs for nearly a decade, including the 1998 campaign.

“I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era,” McGwire said in a statement on the Cardinals website.

McGwire had consistently declined to comment on drug use in baseball and in 2005 refused to answer questions after being ordered to appear before a congressional hearing on steroid use in the sport.

Commissioner Bug Selig on Monday welcomed McGwire’s admission and claimed steroids have been almost wiped out of the big leagues.

“I am pleased that Mark McGwire has confronted his use of performance- enhancing substances,” Selig said. “This will make Mark’s re-entry into the game much smoother.

“The use of steroids and amphetamines among today’s players has greatly subsided and is virtually non-existent as our testing results have shown.

“The so called steroid era ... is clearly a thing of the past.”