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Ceremony offered dignity amid the circus
By Chris Snow, Globe Correspondent, 7/23/2002
Thankfully, many former Red Sox players said last night's event provided that end. ''The tribute was to him and his life, what he did on and off the field,'' said former Sox shortstop Rico Petrocelli, who lives in Nashua. ''And that's the way it should have been. I think we needed this, we being Boston and the former players, needed this closure. We didn't get the chance to see him at a wake, that's the big thing. ''All the other stuff that happened, you figure, him being [cryonically] frozen, John Henry doing that, you think, `My God, you're never going to have some sort of a service or tribute to him.' Thank God the Red Sox did a hell of a job in short time.'' Attention to Williams's accomplishments have been overshadowed since he died July 5 by the controversy over his will, which stated he wished to be cremated, yet his son, John Henry, arranged for him to be cryonically frozen in Arizona. Former Sox reliever Dick Radatz, who met Williams at spring training in 1962, said the Williams he knew was witty. ''The first time I met him, I was throwing about 100 [miles per hour] per pitch,'' Radatz said. ''He says, `Is that it?' I said, `I'm pretty wide open.' He said, `You'd better take that back to the minor leagues.''' The Williams Radatz knew, the former reliever added, never would have wanted the events that surrounded his death. ''No,'' said Radatz, ''not the Ted Williams I knew. He was a simple man. And cryonics is a little too much for him, if not for all of us. ''I know he would probably do his best to take care of his son, but if John Henry explained what cryonics was and what he wanted to do with his DNA, I'm sure Ted didn't understand it. I'm sure he wanted what he said, and that was to have his ashes scattered off the deep side of Florida, and that's it.'' Jerry Coleman, a former Yankee rival and fellow fighter pilot, met Williams at the 1950 All-Star Game. He said he immediately admired Williams. ''He went to the wall to make a catch and crashed into it,'' said Coleman. ''He broke his arm, came up the next inning, and singled. I was thinking, `Geez, this guy hits better with a broken arm than most guys do with two arms.''' As much joy as that gave Coleman, he is pained to hear the current saga. ''I think they need to let him rest,'' Coleman said. ''I don't know what the technical aspects are of it, I don't know what he said, I know it's in the will that he wants to be cremated. It's too bad. He doesn't belong there. He doesn't belong in that kind of a mix.'' ''This was very, very important, very necessary for this to take place because Ted deserved a tribute like this,'' said former Sox pitcher Jim Lonborg, now a dentist. ''It has helped people to remember Ted and his life the way we should.''
This story ran on page F5 of the Boston Globe on 7/23/2002. | |||||||
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here never was a wake or funeral for Ted Williams, never an opportunity for those who wore the same uniform as him to say goodbye.