BOSTON -- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was booed. Dom DiMaggio made a plea for Ted Williams' children to stop their feud.

	Fans walk by a wall of framed photos and posters honoring Ted Williams at Fenway Park on Monday.

But on a night to celebrate the accomplishments of perhaps baseball's greatest hitter, the game's labor troubles and the dispute over the disposition of Williams' body took a back seat.

''Tonight is not the night,'' Selig said before Monday's ceremony when asked about the future of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a possible candidate for contraction.

None of Williams' children -- John Henry, Claudia and Bobbi-Jo -- attended. Bobbi-Jo is fighting her siblings' decision to freeze their father's body at an Arizona cryonics facility, a dispute now in the Florida court system. Williams' will says his body should be cremated, but Al Cassidy, the estate's executor, said Williams changed his mind.

The only reference to that during the tribute came from DiMaggio.

''I hope and pray this controversy will end as abruptly as it began and that the family will do the right thing by honoring Ted's last wishes as to his final resting place and may he then, finally, rest in peace,'' DiMaggio said.

Selig said before the ceremony he didn't think the family dispute would tarnish Williams' legend.

''Ted Williams' legend is so good and so great. It spans at least three generations and maybe four, that I can't imagine that it can diminish anything that he did,'' Selig said. ''He was the greatest hitter that ever lived and how do you take away from that? And you shouldn't.''

John Glenn, the former Ohio senator who flew missions with Williams during the Korean War, at first declined to comment, then said, ''I'm sure they're going to get it worked out.''

DiMaggio referred indirectly to today's wealthy ballplayers when he compared Williams' salary to today's ''inflated contracts.'' The fans at Fenway Park applauded.

They weren't as kind to Selig, who was hooted when he was introduced before the ceremony. He sat on a chair on the field but didn't speak during the tribute.

Before the ceremony, Selig said he was optimistic that, unlike in 1994 when labor troubles forced the World Series to be canceled, it would be played this year.

''I'm always an optimist,'' Selig said. ''We've got a lot of negotiating sessions. We need to get something done. Everyone is working hard at it and I just want to proceed quickly in that direction.''

Asked if his presence at the ceremony was a welcome break from his dealings with baseball's labor troubles, Selig agreed that it was.

''I would do it under any circumstances, but the answer is yes,'' he said. ''He meant so much to this game. I'm honored to be here.''