NEW YORK (AP) — Finally willing to talk about the past, Mark McGwire sobbed and sniffled, giving the missing — and unsurprising — answer to the steroids question.

Ending more than a decade of denials and evasion, McGwire admitted Monday that steroids and human growth hormone helped make him a home run king.

“The toughest thing is my wife, my parents, close friends have had no idea that I hid it from them all this time,” he told The Associated Press in an emotional, 20-minute interview. “I knew this day was going to come. I didn’t know when.”

In a quavering voice, McGwire apologized and said he used steroids and human growth hormone on and off for a decade, starting before the 1990 season and including the year he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record in 1998.

“I wish I had never touched steroids,” McGwire said. “It was foolish and it was a mistake.”Once he was hired by the Cardinals in October to be their hitting coach, however, he knew he had to say something before the start of spring training in mid-February.

“He knows he owes the baseball world an explanation,” said former Rep. Tom Davis, the Virginia Republican who chaired the hearing.

“I don’t think anybody’s surprised by this. He was one of hundreds of players who used steroids during this time. … This was so widespread. Had we not held these hearings and put the fear of God into baseball, it would still be going on.”

Before a carefully rolled out schedule of statements and interviews, McGwire called commissioner Bud Selig, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Maris’ widow, Pat, on Monday to personally break the news.

He started by issuing a statement and calling the AP.

“It was a wrong thing what I did. I totally regret it. I just wish I was never in that era,” he said.

McGwire even understands why the Maris family now believes that Maris’ 61 homers in 1961 should be considered the authentic record.

McGwire was a baseball icon — Big Mac, with a Paul Bunyan physique and a home run swing that made fans come out to the ballpark early to watch batting practice.

He hit 583 home runs, tied for eighth on the career list, and his average of one every 10.6 at-bats is the best ever.

His record of 70 home runs in 1998 was surpassed by Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in 2001 — the year of McGwire’s retirement and the apex of the Steroids Era. Bonds himself has denied knowingly using illegal drugs but has been indicted on charges he made false statements to a federal grand jury and obstructed justice.

In four appearances on the Hall of Fame ballot, McGwire has hovered at 21-24 percent, well below the 75 percent necessary. 

• Ronald Blum