NEWARK, N.J. -- Mike Piazza will not interfere with the family controversy surrounding Ted Williams' body.
The New York Mets catcher will comply with the request made by the lawyer representing Williams' estate. Piazza had contacted Williams' daughter, Bobby Jo Ferrell, offering his help in removing Williams' body from the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona.
"I looked into it and then I got into some legal things,"
Piazza said Saturday after the Mets lost to the Houston Astros 7-4.
"I looked into memorializing him but there is some litigation
pending so I'll wait to see how it turns out."
The estate's lawyer, Peter Sutton, of Boston, asked on Friday
that Piazza and his father back away and warned Piazza's agent the
two men could be sued, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported in
Saturday's editions.
"We understand where he was coming from, and we thank him for his decision," Sutton told the newspaper. "He just needed to hear
the facts."
Williams' son, John Henry Williams, who died recently, had arranged to have Williams' body cryogenically frozen at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Sutton is defending that action. Ferrell and her husband, Mark, are suing Alcor to see documents proving that Williams wanted to be frozen rather than cremated.
The Piazzas' link to Williams dates back nearly 20 years, when
Williams saw the then-16-year-old athlete hit in a batting cage.
"When he passed, there was never a proper ceremony for him,"
Piazza said. "As much as he did for the game, there was nothing to
honor him and reflect on what he accomplished.
"We did some research and unfortunately it's a legal situation.
Hopefully, someday he'll be laid to rest. Right now, there are
court orders back and forth and it's going to have to run its
course."