The Canadian man who spent more than $4 million dollars to buy Mark McGwire s 70th home run ball finally identified himself yesterday . He admitted he was a "psycho fan" and a "sports geek."

The mystery man is Todd McFarlane, the creator of Spawn comic books, who says his purchase ``was a mixture of business, charity and self-indulgence to the nth degree.''

"Sports make you forget death, taxes and politics, and all the other garbage that goes on in life," he says.

The 37-year-old Calgary native who now lives in Tempe, Arizona, is part owner of the NHL s Edmonton Oilers. He has a company that makes action figures, and says the timing of his announcement was tied to the yearly Toy Fair in New York.

Mr. McFarlane, who paid $3,005,000 U.S. for home run ball no. 70, had not seen the ball until Monday, when he came to New York fresh from a stay at the Baltimore Orioles fantasy camp in Florida .

He now owns 9 historic baseballs. Yesterday they were displayed in front of him in nine cases atop nine columns - white and grey for No. 70, black for the others - with four burgundy velvet ropes separating them from the crowd and five men in blue security uniforms standing to the side.

He says he would like to allow the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York to show McGwire s 70th home run ball at times. He would make it available to charities to raise money, and would let individual major league teams display it.

And what would he like in return?

"I d like to be able to take 20 swings in every major league ball park," he says.

Mr. McFarlane, who owns autographs from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, says purchasing the ball was cheaper than buying a sports team.

In all, McFarlane bought nine home run balls hit by McGwire and Sammy Sosa, including McGwires, 63rd, 67th, 68th and 69th, and Sosa s 33rd (his record 20th in June), 61st and 66th.

Mr. McFarlane bought the ball at auction January 12, paying more than $3 million Canadian to Philip Ozersky. The research scientist caught the ball September 27 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

Sammy Sosa s final home run of the season, No. 66, cost Mr. McFarlane about $250,000 Canadian. All the others he bought at the auction cost under $20,000 apiece.

"I blew my life savings on this," McFarlane says. "I m not like the American billionaire Donald Trump. I don t have a lot of cash."

The group of balls will be called The McFarlane Collection.

"Given that I name all my corporations after myself, I ll name it after myself," he said. "Better than The Guy Who Has More Money Than Brains Collection. " Source: The Canadian Press, CBC News

1. Whom does the Canadian man who spent more than $4 million dollars to buy Mark McGwire s?