Cryostasis (freezing the body immediately at death to stabilize and prevent deterioration of all of its microscopic structure) is based on speculation that, some time in the future, we'll have the biotechnology to properly "thaw out" the brain (or even the entire body) in a way that preserves all of the intelligence that was present before death. That includes the person's personality, memory, talents, experiences, behavior patterns, etc -- everything that comprises one's "personhood" or even (in a secular sense, if you will) the soul of the person.

The required biotechnology -- or nanotechnology -- is certainly not likely to develop in the foreseeable century. Maybe in a few hundred years they could "resurrect" Ted Williams -- or a facsimile thereof -- that would continue his life with his brain rebooted. You understand that this is PURELY SCIENCE FICTION! Btw, it also comes in handy if you're planning a long space voyage.

The assumption is that that the brain's information content is actually preserved (and indeed preservable?) after death. But even with timely processing, freezing human tissue normally destroys it (think frostbite) because ice crystals disrupt all of the membrane-bound structures and destroy cells from the inside out. So it's better to first perfuse the body with an anti-freeze of some kind.

If it doesn't work, he's dead anyway. But if it does, he might "live" again! The problem is, one year of cryogenic storage in liquid nitrogen is very expensive. Now multiply that by a few hundred years -- it'll take a lot of dough! That's assuming the custodianship of his frozen head/body hasn't long since been forsaken. It'll take many, many generations of family or admirers, forming an unbroken chain in time, to keep Ted in the tank.

In any case, I haven't heard of cracks in his head. And cracks might not matter much if the microscopic structure is preserved on both sides of the crack. In the future, Ted Williams might be batting above .400 again!