The baseball that St Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire hit for a record 70th home run last season broke its second record on Tuesday, selling at auction in New York for $2.7 million.

With commission, the buyer, who placed the winning bid by telephone, will fork over $3.04 million to Guernsey's auction house for the ball originally made in Costa Rica for less than five dollars.

The staggering price paid for the ball at the auction of 40 items of sports memorabilia at Madison Square Garden was 22 times higher than the previous record which was paid just two months ago for one hit by New York Yankee great Babe Ruth.

The name of the buyer was not immediately available.

The ball passed into legend on September 27th when McGwire, the Cardinals' first baseman, belted it into the stands at Busch Stadium in St Louis, setting a new Major League Baseball home run record.

Researcher Philip Ozersky who earns $30,000 a year, recovered the ball, immediately had it authenticated and deposited in a bank vault for safekeeping before deciding to sell it.

"I am completely exhilarated," Ozersky said after the sale, adding that he wanted to give at least some of his windfall to medical research groups such as the American Cancer Society and American Leukemia Society.

"I never would have expected to get any money from this," he said of his attendance at the September 27th game.

"Now I am going to sit with my lawyers to see how to distribute the money."

The balls that McGwire slugged for home runs 63, 67 and 68, which at the time they were hit were records themselves were also auctioned and fetched a total, including the 15 per cent commission, of $142,600.

In addition, three balls blasted for home runs by McGwire's great rival, Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa - his 61st, 64th and 66th - sold for a total of $216,500.

Sosa and McGwire were embroiled in a neck-and-neck race towards the end of the season to break the old record of 61 home runs set by New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris in 1961.