A Matter Of Frozen Assets

Quickly the news coverage of Ted Williams's death turned from somber to gruesome. On July 6, the day after the Splendid Splinter succumbed to cardiac arrest in Inverness, Fla., at age 83 (page 44), his daughter from his first marriage, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, 53, announced her intention to prevent her half-brother, John Henry Williams, 33, from freezing their father's remains so that his DNA could be cloned and sold. On July 8 the Boston Herald reported that the former Red Sox great was already frozen solid at The Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz.

This is not the first time John Henry has been accused of trying to profit from his father's name. Ever since he took over Ted's business affairs, starting in 1991, he has cut a swath through the memorabilia industry, waging a one-man crusade against forged autographs and fake merchandise, an approach some of his critics allege was part of a plan to pump up the price of his own lines of collectibles. He has even feuded in the courts with his sister, Claudia, 29, whom he sued for selling $1.3 million worth of Williams-autographed bats to a collector. While several of John Henry's business ventures have failed—including Grand Slam, a clearinghouse for Ted Williams memorabilia, and a website, hitter.net, which his father promoted during a Ted Williams tribute at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park by wearing a company hat and shirt—he still peddles Williamsiana through his new company, Green Diamond Sports.

For now, John Henry isn't talking. He has been granted time off by the Gulf Coast Red Sox, the rookie league team that signed him on June 21 as a favor to his father, but for which he has not played in two weeks, since he sustained a rib injury in practice. Neither he nor his lawyer responded to repeated interview requests from SI. "They've asked me to keep it private," says Dwight Hooper, who runs Hooper's Funeral Home in Hernando, Fla., where Williams's body was sent after he was pronounced dead at Citrus Memorial Hospital. Hooper even refused to confirm that the body had been shipped to Arizona, saying cryptically, "It may still be here."