# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/21 "2009-10-03T18:29:56Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Was Ted Williams head ever used before? No. But Hank Aaron guest starred once, as both himself and his descendant Hank Aaron XXIV, the worst ballplayer ever. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/22 "2009-10-03T18:40:51Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > But there’s still a shot at cloning. Nah, the clone would probably turn out just like his son. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/23 "2009-10-03T19:52:07Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Why was there a tuna can on his head in the first place? [Here](http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/10/03/horror_story_williamss_head_abused/): > [@](#): > > Larry Johnson says in the book “Frozen: My Journey Into the World of Cryonics, Deception and Death’’ that he watched an Alcor official swing a monkey wrench at Williams’s frozen severed head to try to remove a tuna can stuck to it. The first swing accidentally struck the head, Johnson contends, and the second knocked the tuna can loose. > … > \*\*Johnson says Alcor used the cans, from a cat that lived on the premises, as pedestals for the heads. > \*\* > Williams’s head was being transferred from one container to another when the monkey wrench incident took place, Johnson said in the book. When the head was removed from the first container, Johnson described it. > > “The disembodied face set in that awful, frozen scream looked nothing like any picture of Ted Williams I’ve ever seen,’’ he wrote. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/24 "2009-10-03T20:22:54Z")
Creepy. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/25 "2009-10-03T21:10:59Z")
Still plenty of time to get your Halloween costumes ready, people. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/26 "2009-10-08T16:51:05Z")
To add more info regarding the tuna can…according to the local radio station where I first heard this story, the head was supposed to be placed on some kind of “sanitary plate” that was not available, hence the substition of the tuna can. They went on to state that it was a Star-Kist tuna can, but I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335/27 "2009-10-08T17:40:47Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Still plenty of time to get your Halloween costumes ready, people. I did that costume 7 years ago. Baseball pants, cleats, Williams jersey, winter hat, gloves, scarf and a styrofoam cooler suspended around my waist. I didn’t have the energy to do any sort of “cold makeup” as the party I went to wasn’t all that serious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-head-used-for-batting-practice/512335.md?page=1)