BOSTON -- About 16,000 tickets remained unsold for Monday's tribute to Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams -- and some fans say the spat over the Splendid Splinter's remains is in part to blame for slow sales.

"It would be fun to see all the memorabilia and speeches, but with all ... that's been going on with the freezing of the body, I'm just not that interested in going,'' said Tim O'Toole, 37, of Randolph, who was buying tickets Friday at Fenway Park for an upcoming game with his daughter, Kerri, 9.

Since Williams' death July 5, his children have been fighting over what to do with his remains. His son, John Henry Williams, wants his father's body to stay frozen in a cryonics lab in Arizona; his oldest daughter, Bobby-Jo Williams Ferrell, said her father wanted to be cremated. The dispute is pending in probate court in Florida.

The Boston Red Sox have invited Williams' children to the tribute Monday evening at Fenway Park, but they will not participate in the ceremony.

"What we're doing Monday is not about Ted Williams' family, it's about providing our fans the opportunity to grieve the loss of Ted and to celebrate Ted's contributions to baseball, our country and the Jimmy Fund,'' Red Sox spokesman Kevin Shea said Friday.

Tickets for the tribute range from $9 to $27 -- and they're hardly the hottest ticket in town. As of Friday evening, about 17,000 had been sold. Shea attributed the slow sales to short notice and bad timing, with many people out of town on vacation.

Some longtime fans who planned to attend the event said they were looking forward to seeing Williams' Hall of Fame plaque or hearing tributes from friends and war buddies of baseball's last .400 hitter.

"I think it will be interesting to hear the tributes about his life,'' Lloyd Zide, 44, of Westboro, said as he picked up his tickets for the memorial service at Fenway Park on Friday. "Hopefully the last week or so doesn't taint his life.''

The memorial will highlight three parts of Williams' life: baseball, his role in the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research, and his service as a Marine Corps pilot.

Former Ohio Sen. John Glenn, who flew combat missions in Korea with Williams; retired San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn; former Red Sox Dom DiMaggio and Carl Yastrzemski; and Ken Burns, director of the PBS documentary "Baseball,'' were expected to attend. The team was still waiting for RSVPs from President Bush and his father, who were fishing buddies with Williams.

Still, the big-name lineup wasn't enough to attract some fans to the event, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, a day off for the Red Sox.

Pat Proia, owner of Pat's Ticket Center in Waltham, said he has had few requests for tickets. And he's not surprised.

"The ones who remember Ted Williams are really getting up there in age,'' Proia said. "They're not going to go out there for that. The younger crowd don't really know Ted.

"They need to make something more about it than people just telling stories about him,'' he added. "They need it to be a celebration. People don't really like to go to funerals.''