Chasing history? Mark McGwire made it Tuesday night.

McGwire, who owns the most lethal swing in baseball, delivered the most famous swing in baseball on a 0-0 pitch from the Cubs' Steve Trachsel in the bottom of the fourth inning.

McGwire blasted a low, screaming liner that just cleared the fence down the left-field line as he became the most prolific single-season home run hitter in major-league history. Home run No. 62 arrived at 8:18 p.m. CT and was estimated at 341 feet -- Big Mac's shortest home run during this season of heroics that captivated a nation.

	Mark McGwire breaks the record.

"I tell you what, I was so shocked because I didn't think the ball had enough to get out," McGwire said. "It's an absolutely incredible feeling. I can honestly say I did it."

When McGwire realized it was gone, he threw his arms into the air and nearly missed first base as he shook hands with first-base coach Dave McKay. He came back to touch it.

He was congratulated by each of the Cubs infielders -- first baseman Mark Grace, second baseman Mickey Morandini, shortstop Jose Hernandez and third baseman Gary Gaetti, whom he embraced in a big hug.

"He was pretty generous with his emotions," Gaetti said. "He wanted to give me a hug, so I couldn't refuse it. The guy doesn't know his own strength. He nearly broke my back."

Cubs catcher Scott Servais reached out to shake McGwire's hand as he neared home plate, but McGwire hugged him, too.

McGwire also touched his chest and pointed to the sky in honor of Roger Maris, the previous record-holder with 61 home runs who died of cancer in 1985.

"I just hope I didn't act foolish. This is history," McGwire said of his emotional trot around the bases.

After reaching home plate, he picked up his 10-year-old son, Matt, and was then mobbed by his teammates. The Cardinals bullpen joined join the celebration. He hugged manager Tony La Russa, his skipper for many years in Oakland as well.

Sammy Sosa, who has pursued McGwire all season, came in from right field, the two embraced and Sosa was lifted into the air by McGwire. Sosa patted McGwire on the back, the two exchanged high-fives and repeated the Cardinals' now-famous home run ritual.

McGwire went into the stands to hug the six children of Maris, who were in attendance. Maris' widow, Patricia, was back in a St. Louis hospital on Tuesday night for the second time in three days with an irregular heartbeat.

After McGwire finished celebrating with his teammates and the Maris family, he grabbed a microphone to address the sellout crowd, which was still standing and cheering.

"To all my family, my son, the Cubs, Sammy Sosa. It's unbelievable," McGwire said. "Thank you, St. Louis."

		Tuesday, Sept. 8 Going all the way back to my childhood, I have always believed that St. Louis is the best baseball town in America. Before television, the Cardinals truly were America's Team because they were the furthest west, and St. Louis was the biggest radio city in the country. Now let's go back to 1986 when Mark McGwire hit his first major-league home run off Walt Terrell in Detroit. The next spring training, he was beaten out for the A's starting first base job by Rob Nelson, who finished with a career total of four home runs and 11 RBI. McGwire was in the starting lineup in the second game and for the rest of the year. Here we are, 448 home runs later. The sad part of this great story is there is another example of the disparity between large media outlets and the small-media franchises. The A's could not afford to have McGwire hit 62 home runs in Oakland.

After the game resumed -- which St. Louis eventually won 6-3 -- Trachsel struck out Ray Lankford to end the inning. McGwire took his position at first base to another thunderous cheer.

Sosa came to the plate 15 minutes after McGwire's homer and got a standing ovation. The crowd then chanted "Sammy, Sammy" as he faced Kent Mercker, who was booed by the home crowd after throwing a pitch in the dirt. Sosa ended up walking, to a cascade of boos for Mercker.

McGwire's No. 62 ball actually never reached the stands, as it hit off the wall of the lower deck. It was recovered by Tim Forneris, a member of the grounds crew, who returned it to McGwire during the postgame ceremony in which the Cardinals gifted McGwire with a Cardinal red '62 Corvette.

"Right when it hit off the bat, I knew it was going out and it went right over the sign. There was a bunch of ground-crew guys on the wall. But I was right on the edge and I said, 'That ball is mine."'

Before the game, McGwire held the bat that Maris used to hit his 61st homer in 1961 and rubbed it against his chest.

"Roger, I hope you're with me tonight," McGwire said.

McGwire, who appeared anxious in grounding out on a 3-0 pitch in the first inning, hit his solo shot on the first pitch from Trachsel and triggered an 11-minute delay, baseball's biggest midgame celebration since Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record in 1995.

The home run, despite its short distance, surely will rank as one of the biggest in history, up there with the ones hit by Bobby Thomson, Bill Mazeroski, Hank Aaron, Carlton Fisk, Kirk Gibson and Joe Carter.

The 34-year-old slugger also did it at home, just like he wanted. The Cardinals begin a five-game road trip Wednesday, and McGwire wanted to share the moment with the fans and city he has embraced since Oakland traded him to St. Louis on July 31, 1997.

McGwire homered in the Cardinals' 145th game of the season. It was his 137th game of the year. Maris played in 159 games in 1961 while Ruth played in 151 of the Yankees' 154 games in 1927.

A beyond-capacity crowd at Busch Stadium arrived early and cheered McGwire's every move, from a six-home run performance in batting practice to his pregame introduction to his walking out to first base in the top of the first inning.

They also gave Sosa, McGwire's nearest pursuer with 58 home runs coming into the game, a standing ovation when he came to bat in the top of the first inning.

McGwire sprinted to the record. Tuesday's blast was McGwire's seventh home run in his last seven games and third since returning to St. Louis for a five-game homestand last Friday. Since hitting just two home runs in a 19-game stretch from July 28-Aug. 19, McGwire has gone deep 15 times.

With the Cardinals out of contention, McGwire may take off a few days over the final 18 games; the season ends Sept. 27. He is just four homers ahead of Sosa, who figures to play every day down the stretch with the Cubs still in the NL wild-card race.

McGwire's run to greatness began immediately back on March 31 -- he hit a grand slam homer off the Dodgers' Ramon Martinez on Opening Day and homered in his first four games, tying a record set by Willie Mays. From that week on, the pressure was enormous and the media coverage grew to unbelievable proportions throughout the season: there were more than 700 media members on hand Tuesday.

McGwire sluggled three home runs against Arizona on April 14 and three more at Philadelphia on May 19. On May 16, he sluggled a 545-foot blast off Livan Hernandez of the Marlins, his longest blast of the season. The shot is commemorated in Busch Stadium with a big band-aid pasted on the scoreboard.

In July, he set the mark for the fastest to reach 40 homers in a season. In August, he came the first player to reach 50 home runs in three straight years. And then came September and the most memorable month of all.

At one point in mid-June, McGwire complained that he felt like a "caged animal" because of all the attention his BP sessions were attracting. Later in the season, as the media hordes started to increase, he was stung by an Associated Press report that he used Androstenedione, an over-the-counter workout supplement that is legal in major-league baseball and the NBA but banned by the NFL, NCAA and International Olympic Committee.

In the end, Big Mac thrived despite the pressure. But hey, this was a guy born to set records: In his first at-bat in Little League, he hit a home run.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.