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player ready...John Henry Williams, the only son of late Red Sox Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams, died of acute myelogenous leukemia Saturday night at UCLA Medical Center in California. He was 35.
According to two family sources, John Henry Williams’ remains already have been delivered to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Ever-controversial, John Henry Williams ran the business affairs of his father for more than 15 years until Ted Williams died July 5, 2002. A storm of protest ensued when John Henry had his father’s remains frozen at the Alcor cryonics facility in the hours after Ted’s death.
The younger Williams was diagnosed with cancer in October 2003 and made no public statements in the final months of his life. According to Dave McCarthy, a family friend and director of the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters Hall of Fame in Hernando, Fla., John Henry Williams underwent a bone marrow transplant a week before Christmas (his sister, Claudia, was the donor), but it was unsuccessful. Family sources also said John Henry underwent brain surgery Friday.
Al Cassidy, executor of Ted Williams’s estate, said John Henry’s mother, Dolores, and his sister were with him when he died.
John Henry Williams bore a startling resemblance to his father but inherited little of the slugger’s athleticism. He did not play baseball in college and failed at several minor-league tryouts, including a stint with the Schaumburg Flyers last year. He was released by the Flyers on May 28, 2003, after he went 0-for-7 in three exhibitions.
John Henry’s business ventures often failed. Capitalizing on the celebrity of his father, he dived headfirst into the memorabilia market in the early 1990s. Several ventures went bankrupt and he seemed forever trailed by lawsuits, creditors and red ink. Along the way, he alienated many of his father’s friends and contemporaries.
In the late years of Ted Williams’ life, all roads to the slugger went through John Henry. The son was aware people thought he was capitalizing on his father’s fame. “I can’t worry about that,” he said in January of 2001 after his father underwent a nine-hour surgery in New York. “Dad and I are the only people who know what our relationship is like. He knows I care more about him than anyone in the world.”
It wasn’t until his father’s death that John Henry made the move that cut him off from virtually everyone in his father’s circle.
Claiming it was his father’s wish, John Henry Williams sent Ted Williams’ body to the Alcor facility immediately after the elder Williams died. When Bobby-Jo Ferrell took the matter to court, John Henry produced a note in which Ted, John Henry and Claudia agreed to have their remains frozen in hopes that they might someday be reunited. Ferrell eventually dropped her suit, and the slugger’s body remains frozen at Alcor.
Ferrell issued a statement in which she said she “does not feel comfortable making a comment” on the death of her half-brother.