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John Patrick McSherry (September 11, 1944April 1, 1996) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1971 until his death. McSherry wore uniform number 9 when he entered the National League, then wore number 10 from 1979 through the rest of his career. A respected umpire and crew chief. McSherry was officially listed at and . On April 1, 1996, the opening day of the 1996 Major League Baseball season, McSherry suffered a fatal heart attack while calling a game in Cincinnati.
McSherry removed himself from the seventh game of the 1992 National League Championship Series in the second inning due to illness.
Because third-base umpire Tom Hallion had followed the ambulance to the hospital, the remaining two umpires, Steve Rippley and Jerry Crawford, had to decide whether to proceed with the game. Shaken and tearful players on both teams consoled the grieving umpires, and the umpires decided to postpone the game. Reds manager Ray Knight recalled a comment from shortstop Barry Larkin: "Barry told me very quietly and with very much emotion: 'Ray, I've had a lot of deaths in my family. In good conscience, out of respect for life, I can't go out there.'"
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott said, "Snow this morning and now this. I don't believe it. I feel cheated. This isn't supposed to happen to us, not in Cincinnati. This is our history, our tradition, our team. Nobody feels worse than me." Schott's statement was criticized as a public gaffe, though supporters contended that she was thinking of the some 50,000 fans who had expected to see a baseball game and might be unable to attend a makeup game. Schott sent flowers to the umpire's dressing room; the Dayton Daily News later reported that the flowers had been given to Schott on Opening Day by Reds television partner SportsChannel Ohio, and had been regifting with a handwritten sympathy note.
The game was resumed the following day, with the Reds winning 4–1 over the Expos. Rich Rieker joined the umpiring crew as an emergency replacement at third base.
An autopsy revealed that McSherry had suffered a massive heart attack, caused by severe coronary artery disease. He went into cardiac arrest when he collapsed during the game. McSherry dealt with health issues prior to this one, including leaving a few games due to dizziness and dehydration in the early 1990s.
According to Richie Phillips, the head of the Major League Umpires Association, McSherry weighed closer to than his listed weight of and was particularly vulnerable to job-related stress. Phillips recalled a moment when he was in the umpires' locker room talking with others and seeing McSherry "sitting by himself in a corner, putting on his shinguards, and he broke out in a huge sweat." According to Phillips, at the request of the league, McSherry spent multiple offseasons attending weight-loss programs at Duke University, but once the season began, he habitually regained whatever weight he had lost, made worse because he also had bad knees. As far back as 1983, Joe Garagiola was quoted in The New York Times as saying "It looks like McSherry getting all the meal money." In 1984, Steve Wulf had written in Sports Illustrated that McSherry "makes your average sumo wrestler look like Freddie Patek."
More than 1,000 people attended McSherry's Requiem at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church in the Bronx, the same church in which he was baptized. About 200 people attended his burial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.
The New York Mets honored McSherry's memory by embroidering "J.M. N.L. Umpire 10" in a home plate crossed by two baseball bats on the right sleeves of their 1996 game jerseys. In memory of McSherry, the Reds dedicated Riverfront Stadium's umpires' dressing room to him, and the National League retired his number 10.
Aftermath
It was later revealed McSherry had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the day after his death; McSherry had been diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia. After the incident, Major League Baseball compelled its umpires to be more physically fit. National League umpire Eric Gregg, a friend of McSherry, made an effort to lose excess weight via exercise and diet, but resigned after the 1999 season in a dispute with MLB and subsequently died at age 55 due to a stroke in 2006.
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Categories: 1944 Births, 1996 Deaths, Baseball Deaths, Burials At Gate Of Heaven Cemetery, Catholics From New York, Deaths From Coronary Artery Disease, Filmed Deaths In The United States, Filmed Deaths In Sports, Major League Baseball Umpires, National League Umpires, People From Dobbs Ferry, New York, Sports Deaths In Ohio, Sportspeople From The Bronx, St. John's University Alumni, 20th-century American People
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