Mark McGwire's baseball comeback is providing abundant fodder for the media. He's filling newspaper columns, blogs, Internet forums, sports-talk radio segments and prime blocks of TV news.

It's all McGwire, all of the time.

It's almost as if we've returned to 1998.

The McGwire mania home-run derby was all the rage then; steroid rage is the source of the debate now.

And I'd be a fraud unless I pointed out the obvious irony.

We pass judgment on McGwire. We tell McGwire what he should do. We attempt to boss him around, demanding that he confess to using steroids. We criticize and condemn McGwire. But he's pure gold for ratings, website traffic and newspaper readership.

Prince or pariah, McGwire is great business for the media.

That was true in 1998, when we excitedly celebrated McGwire the baseball hero and his prodigious home runs. We gave him credit for "saving" baseball. We saluted McGwire the humanitarian for establishing a foundation to provide support for abused children.

We were fully McGwired again earlier this decade, when the steroid disclosures began to surface. We were shocked — and outraged! — to learn that McGwire may have added some extra ingredients to those protein shakes.

I'm not sure if I have this straight: you mean that as McGwire "saved" baseball, he was actually ruining it? Oh. Well. Wait a minute, then. Hello, Post-Dispatch, can you put me through to the sports copy desk? I have to rewrite history. Thanks.

We were agitated — outraged! — when McGwire went before Congress and committed one of the most unforgivable of sins in our American culture: he was really bad on TV.

We revisited Big Mac Land again when he first appeared on the ballot for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. McGwire still hasn't been able to net more than around 25 percent of the vote, well short of the necessary 75 percent for approval. We, the Baseball Writers of America — outraged! — are keeping McGwire locked out of Cooperstown.

And now that McGwire has been hired as the Cardinals' hitting instructor, we've returned with our fully renewable outrage. Let me testify that it isn't easy being a moral guardian. It cuts into the time I would have to enjoy a fine cigar. And having to constantly perform these ethical gymnastics is awfully hard on these 50-year-old knees.

A few loose ends on the McGwire hire, from my perspective:

— What should McGwire do for Cardinals hitters? Ratchet up the onbase percentage by improving plate discipline. The Cardinals finished ninth in the NL in OBP this season. Only four NL teams had a lower walk rate. Only two teams hacked at more first pitches. Only one NL team took fewer pitches. McGwire did strike out a lot as a slugger — which is true of most wallbangers — but his latter-career approach was patient and sound. McGwire developed a sharp hitter's mind. As a hitter, McGwire put in long hours of preparation. As a coach, he'll commit to the daily grind.

— Will the return to baseball improve McGwire's chances of being voted into the Hall of Fame? I doubt it. Around 75 percent of the voters have been against him. Even if he plays to the press box by offering a heart-stirring confessional of steroid use, would McGwire be able to flip so many voters? That's highly unlikely. But it's the only shot he has. There will be absolutely no groundswell for McGwire unless he candidly discusses his training methods during the 1990s.

— What, if anything, are the sportswriters and sportscasters missing when we discuss McGwire? First of all, readers, viewers and listeners don't care if McGwire is nice to media people. Second, we forget or underestimate just how popular McGwire is inside the baseball fraternity. He was considered a terrific teammate. He sold tickets, which strengthened the industry. And baseball people felt sorry for McGwire when he turned into a puddle at the congressional hearing. Baseball outsiders and insiders have dramatically contrasting views of McGwire, and that's to be expected.

— What does the hiring say about Cardinals manager Tony La Russa? TLR's critics cite this as an example of how La Russa embraces the steroids culture. I think it's about this: La Russa is fiercely loyal to his guys. And McGwire has always been one of La Russa's favorites. La Russa will take the hit, and absorb another extensive round of steroid-enabler talk, out of loyalty to McGwire.

You can accuse La Russa of many things, but he doesn't run away from his guys. La Russa may manage the Cardinals for one more season, and if McGwire was ever going to return to the game, it was best for him to do it now, while La Russa was still managing and in position to help. Coming back won't be easy for McGwire, but La Russa is the best possible manager to help McGwire through the transition.