JUST A “HEADS UP”

October 3, 2009

“Disturbing” isn’t a strong enough word to use when discussing the news that came out this week in the New York Daily News regarding the remains of Ted Williams.  The paper reported that the severed head of the Hall of Famer was mistreated by workers at the Arizona cryonics facility where it is being kept frozen.  Read that sentence again.  What a bizarre world we live in!  On many levels, this is a disgrace.  Let’s start with the late son of Teddy Ballgame.  John Henry Williams, who himself died of leukemia a few yeas ago and is also reportedly stored in the same facility, wanted to make sure that if technology ever advanced enough, his father could be revived.  People, we are messing with the laws of nature.  Apparently, this went against Teds’ wishes to be cremated.  It also reportedly went against the rest of the familys’ desires.  Sounds like some sort of sick mixture of greed and obsession.  For the record, when I go, and believe me, I’m in no hurry, cremate me and be done with it.  If Williams came back, would he be the 83 year old version who died or would he return as the “Splendid Splinter”?  My memory of Williams is not a good one.  He retired the month I was born, so obviously I never saw him play.  As a kid, my parents sent me to his baseball camp in Lakeville, Mass. for three weeks one summer in the early ’70s.  Never met him until I was covering the Hall of Fame Inductions in Cooperstown in 1991.  I’ve told that story here before, so no need to re-live the details, suffice to say I didn’t like him.  Be that as it may, even if his son didn’t respect his wishes, the morons who worked at Alcor and allegedly perpetrated the misconduct on Williams frozen head, should have known better.  Larry Johnson, a former executive at Alcor has written a book, “Frozen”.  In it, he claims that a technician took a monkey wrench and took baseball-like swings at the frozen noggin.  Sounds like “gallows” humor, but if Williams made a return, would he be a free agent or still under contract to Boston, and would the Red Sox “unfreeze” his number 9 from the perch at Fenway?  Shame on everyone involved, including John Henry Williams.

 

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It will be interesting to see what former members of the PawSox will be included on the Red Sox postseason roster.  News late Friday involving Alex Gonzalez and a potential hairline fracture on his right hand.  The shortstop was hit by a Kerry Wood pitch in the 6-2 win over Cleveland on Friday.  Certainly, Jed Lowrie and/or Nick Green will have a much larger role if the news isn’t good. 

Written by mlblogsshyderblog1 Posted in Dailies