The Good Father

"I had bad karma going for a while in my life, but I think I've learned," he says. He wants to help people. Recently he dated a woman who worked at a home for sexually abused children, which led to his $1 million-a-year donation, which was announced last fall—with his new Cardinals contract—at a press conference, during which he choked up, stopped talking and cried openly on camera.

"You know, they'll run that sometimes, and it still amazes me," he says. "It took crying for me to realize, This is the real me. That day, when I cried, is when I realized I can open up. I can care. I can communicate. I sometimes wonder why so many people have become drawn to me, and I think that's why. They saw me as a real person after that. It took crying to make me realize who I am now. I'm the Mark McGwire I'm supposed to be."

And who's that?

"What do you mean?" he says.

Who are you?

"Well, I'm—I'm an opinionated, understanding, communicative, sensitive ... father."

Touch 'em all.