McGwire’s 70th home run ball lands in Vegas

Victoria Sun

Friday, Sept. 24, 1999 | 10:01 a.m.

For $3 million, you can buy about 10 luxury homes in Las Vegas, a part of a large corporation or 30 Ferarris.

And that's just the short list.

But Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic book character and Emmy-award winner for his HBO animated series, decided to drop his life savings on something a little more eccentric.

Last January, the 38-year-old paid a record $3.005 million for St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball.

"I didn't intend to spend this much, but in terms of doing the things I wanted to do with the ball, it didn't matter if it was a dollar or a million dollars," McFarlane said Thursday. "It wasn't bought for an investment, I'm not gonna sell it.

"It's a big number. It took my life savings. For the most part I am just a normal guy who happened to be lucky in business and able to buy the ball."

The ball, along with nine others that are part of "The McFarlane Collection," is being displayed at the Fremont Street Experience downtown through Saturday at midnight.

Admission is free because McFarlane, a former outfielder at Eastern Washington University, wants it that way.

This season, McFarlane has taken the ball along with others in his collection and put it on display at Major League Baseball stadiums across the country. Las Vegas is the only non-major league city in which the exhibit will appear.

Part of the deal was that Canadian-born McFarlane was allowed to take batting practice with the Vancouver Canadians during the Triple-A World Series at Cashman Field.

"McGwire hit the 70 home runs and I hit the ball 70 feet, or 70 hops to the fence," McFarlane said with a wry smile. "That's our bond."

The day wasn't a total loss.

McFarlane also was presented with a key to the city from city council members Gary Reese and Lynette McDonald; a Las Vegas Stars jersey from Stars general manager Don Logan; and a replica of a Wheaties box with Lou Gehrig on the front.

Shirley Blair, the sister of Gov. Kenny Guinn, read Guinn's proclamation that Thursday was Todd McFarlane Day.

The rest of his collection includes McGwire's first, 63rd, 64th and 67th-69th home run balls as well as Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa's 33rd, 61st and 66th home run balls from the 1998 season, when both players were in a heated race to break Roger Maris' home run record of 61 set in 1961.

McFarlane estimates that he paid $3.5 million for all 10 balls, but giving something back to baseball lovers wasn't his only intention.

The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, known for combating what commonly is known as Lou Gehrig's disease, has been selected as the national charity for the North American tour of McFarlane's exhibit.

He said his goal is to raise awareness about the disease and at certain ballparks, there are fund-raisers where people can buy items like T-shirts or pay for a Polaroid photo with the balls.

"It would've been easy for me to write a check," McFarlane said. "I wanted to create a bridge to fund raising and have fun while doing it.

"It's like cool. I give the fans a chance to see the balls for free. If you want to see the Mona Lisa, I mean it's in the Louvre in Paris and you have to pay, but it costs fans nothing to see the balls.'