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Fate of Williams licensing, memorabilia ventures in question
By Scott Bernard Nelson, Globe Staff, 7/17/2002
A Web site called The Smoking Gun reported late yesterday that Williams's son, John Henry Williams, filed a trademark application May 14 to keep anyone from using the Hall of Famer's name on baseball gear, baseball instructional courses or videos, and baseball camps without paying royalties to Ted Williams Family Enterprises. John Henry signed the application as firm president. A search of Massachusetts records last night revealed that Ted Williams Family Enterprises was incorporated in Franklin in 1993, but that state officials dissolved the company on Aug. 31, 1998, for failure to file required annual reports. What that means for the John Henry's trademark application was unclear yesterday. A call to John Henry Williams's cellphone seeking comment was not returned. Licensing revenue, in any case, isn't the only money to be made on Ted Williams's name in the years ahead. An ongoing lawsuit between two of the ballplayer's children highlights the value of bats, photographs, and other memorabilia signed by Williams that also remain in the family's control. On April 15, John Henry received a preliminary injunction barring his sister, Claudia, from selling 1,845 of her father's autographed baseball bats to Arizona memorabilia dealer Jerome Romolt. He sued to keep the bats in the family, offering to pay the same $1.2 million as Romolt. Nobody knows how much other memorabilia John Henry and his two sisters have stored in warehouses in Florida and Massachusetts. The will filed yesterday did not include an inventory of Williams's property but indicated that all of his money should be put in a trust fund. Rich Klein, a price guide analyst at Beckett Publications in Dallas, said the future value of the memorabilia any of the Williams children hold is uncertain, since the nature of sports collectibles is that precise values aren't known until there is a specific buyer for a specific item. Scott Bernard Nelson can be reached at nelson@globe.com.
This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on 7/17/2002.
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bscured by the debate over Ted Williams's final resting place is the question of what happens to the various licensing and sports memorabilia ventures tied to the Red Sox legend's name.