Tuna Cans And Ted Williams...

A new book by a former employee of Alcor, the company that froze Ted Williams' remains, alleges the Baseball Hall of Famer's body was mistreated by the company.

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' 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.

Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, Ariz., issued a statement on its Web site denying the allegations and promising legal action.

"Alcor denies allegations reported in the press that there was mistreatment of the remains of Ted Williams at Alcor," the company said. "Alcor will be litigating this and any other false allegations to the maximum extent of the law."

Johnson says he worked for Alcor for eight months in 2003, first as clinical director then as chief operating officer. He included several photographs in the book, including one of an upside-down severed head, not Williams', that had what appeared to be a tuna can attached to it.

Johnson says Alcor used the cans, from a cat that lived on the premises, as pedestals for the heads.

Williams' 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.

Johnson said that an Alcor employee tried in vain to remove the tuna can.

"Then he grabbed a monkey wrench, heaved a mighty swing, missing the tuna can completely but hitting the head dead center," Johnson wrote. "Tiny pieces of frozen head sprayed around the room."

The next swing, Johnson wrote, knocked the can loose.

Johnson also contends that there was a significant crack in Williams' head. He also repeated an allegation he had made earlier that samples of Williams' DNA are missing from the facility.