There might never be a last word on Ted Williams. He was that good. The statistics still dazzle: from .406 in 1941 to 29 home runs in 1960, when he was 42. He was a bona fide baseball legend.
But he was also a hero, and precious few athletes actually deserve that label. He was a Marine Corps pilot in two wars. Imagine Barry Bonds as a fighter pilot. Didn’t think so.
But now we have this macabre, cold-blooded circus — involving court injunctions and cryonics plans — going on among his kids. Scenarios for saving and selling Williams’ DNA are afoot.
From a purely marketing standpoint, this is a disaster. Passing along DNA is no guarantee of anything. Just look at Williams’ children, who had his DNA passed on to them the old-fashioned way.