# Ted Williams' Head Used for Batting Practice **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 2, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335 "2009-10-02T13:06:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/1 "2009-10-02T13:06:56Z")
I debated putting this in the Pit, but I don’t have a lot of vitriol, just disgust for these people. The nice folks at Alcor have apparently been up to some naughty hi jinx. Article [here](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/10/02/2009-10-02_book_reveals_chilling_details_of_how_cryonic_lab_thumped_remains_of_baseball_imm.html). > [@](#): > > Johnson writes that in July 2002, shortly after the Red Sox slugger died at age 83, technicians with no medical certification gleefully photographed and used crude equipment to decapitate the majors’ last .400 hitter. > > Williams’ severed head was then frozen, and even used for batting practice by a technician trying to dislodge it from a tuna fish can. The whistle blower is writing a book, so the veracity of his story should be taken in that light, but still. Sounds like something you’d read about teenagers doing, not “professionals.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/2 "2009-10-02T14:25:27Z")
Well, I put the book on my list of to-reads. Sounds pretty grim, but doesn’t surprise me that there are shenanigans going on at a company/facility that basically exists to fleece people by pimping technology that doesn’t actually exist yet. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/3 "2009-10-02T14:28:26Z")
I think it’s kind of funny. It’s a victimless crime. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/4 "2009-10-02T14:30:28Z")
Way I heard it, Teddy loved playing with people’s heads while he was alive. Karma? ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/5 "2009-10-02T14:33:54Z")
Well, yes, if it were a Yankee player I’d be furious! But since it’s just a Red Sox player… ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/6 "2009-10-02T17:30:19Z")
The only victims are Teddy’s fans in Red Sox Nation, who hate to see a beloved icon besmirched. But the villian is not Alcor, but William’s son who agreed to the hare-brained head-freezing scam over the objections of just about everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/7 "2009-10-02T18:49:46Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > But the villian is not Alcor, but William’s son who agreed to the hare-brained head-freezing scam over the objections of just about everyone. There’s no reason to choose. Alcor is a scam, and John-Henry Williams was either a liar scoundrel or an idiot, or both. ETA: Even if this is victimless in theory, it would be twisted to take someone’s money and do something like this. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/8 "2009-10-02T18:54:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > ETA: Even if this is victimless in theory, it would be twisted to take someone’s money and do something like this. Actually, i think it’s twisted simply to take someone’s money on the pretense that freezing a loved one’s head can actually make any sort of difference. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/9 "2009-10-02T18:54:54Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Actually, i think it’s twisted simply to take someone’s money on the pretense that freezing a loved one’s head can actually make any sort of difference. I agree. Somehow messing around with the bodies does make it a little worse, from where I sit. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/10 "2009-10-02T19:08:24Z")
Now that any possibility of reanimation is gone, can we \*please \*let him be cremated and scattered over his favorite Florida fishing grounds, as he wanted? Please? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/11 "2009-10-02T19:21:28Z")
Ted Williams’ Head Used for Batting Practice [Plate umpire] Needs less pepper. [/Plate umpire] ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/12 "2009-10-02T20:08:37Z")
In a way I suppose this is fitting. Ted Williams always wanted to get a head in the count. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/13 "2009-10-02T21:18:16Z")
I bet there’s a law against abusing a corpse in Arizona, frozen or thawed. Not to mention dismembering live dogs. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/14 "2009-10-03T02:53:54Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Now that any possibility of reanimation is gone But there’s still a shot at cloning. It’s a stretch to think he’d be eligible for this year’s playoffs, though. Sigh. I mean, who’d you rather have as DH right now? David Ortiz or Teddy Ballgame II? ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/15 "2009-10-03T07:53:09Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > \Sounds like something you’d read about teenagers doing, not “professionals.” What are the “professional” standards for sawing off someone’s head to freeze for later re-animation? And are they as rigid as those for phrenologists or astrologists? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/16 "2009-10-03T08:12:22Z")
Why was there a tuna can on his head in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/17 "2009-10-03T11:08:12Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Why was there a tuna can on his head in the first place? Do you know NOTHING about cryogenics? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/18 "2009-10-03T17:04:19Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#): > > Do you know NOTHING about cryogenics? > > 😃 Hey! It’s all tuna cans nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I’m gonna need about ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/19 "2009-10-03T17:28:31Z")
When Futurama comes back, they should find a way to incorporate a gag about this. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/20 "2009-10-03T18:22:59Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > When Futurama comes back, they should find a way to incorporate a gag about this. I haven’t watched that show much, but I do recall that they had animated heads in jars (Nixon’s?). Was Ted Williams head ever used before? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335.md?page=2)