McFarlane Admits McGwire Ball Purchase

Its been rumored for a couple of weeks and firmly denied by many, but on Monday, artist Todd McFarlane, best known for the Spawn comic book series, admitted to being the anonymous purchaser of the infamous Mark McGwire 70th home run baseball. What was the price for the baseball? US$3,005,000, more than your average sports fan would be able to pony up (and probably more than any sports fan would have hanging around to buy a baseball).

The 37-year-old Canadian sports fan lives in Tempe, Arizona, and is also a minority investor in the Edmonton Oilers. Why tell the world now? McFarlane said that the timing of the announcement was associated with the New York Toy Fair, since McFarlane also owns a company, McFarlane Toys, that makes action figures. Maybe the publicity will help McFarland purchase other sports paraphernalia.... Apparently, McFarlane has baseball fever - he owns nine baseballs from both Sosa and McGuire.

During a press conference, McFarlane said, "I blew my life savings on this. I'm not Donald Trump. I don't have a lot of cash.'' The artist will make the collection of balls available to the Hall of Fame and charity events.