Post by FredFan7 on Apr 16, 2013 13:23:47 GMT -5
John McSherry (1944-1996) Opening Day Tragedy
Published in Referee Magazine: September 2009 | Print | Email
Copyright© Referee Enterprises, Inc.
Important note: This article is archival in nature. Rules, interpretations, citations, mechanics and/or officiating philosophies found in this article may or may not be correct for the current year.
By Matt Moore
The night of March 31, 1996, John McSherry and his umpiring crewmates Jerry Crawford and Steve Rippley went out to dinner in advance of Opening Day in Cincinnati, where baseball’s annual first pitch was traditionally thrown
The Montreal Expos were in town to take on the Reds, and McSherry was beginning his 26th big league season
“John was in great spirits,” Crawford said recently. “That was somewhat unusual about John. He was very focused and normally he was a little tighter, especially when he worked the plate. But he was in a great frame of mind.” Nothing out of the ordinary happened before the game. The umpires, including Tom Hallion, who was not at dinner the night before because he commutes up from his Kentucky home when he works in Cincinnati, arrived at their typical time and prepared for the game
“John was a very nervous person,” Hallion said. “So what went on in the hour and a half before the game started was not unusual. It had snowed that morning, but it looked like we were going to be fine to get the game in. John joked around in his funny, dry way. I couldn’t tell you that I sensed anything outside of his normal nervousness. It was the same thing I had seen before working with him.” Crawford agreed that there was nothing abnormal about the day
“John had a routine when he was in the locker room. He rubbed his legs down with Flexall and prepared himself for the game. He made sure he was as fluid as he could be. He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Whether he was feeling anything, he didn’t relay that to us
He didn’t say, ‘I’m not feeling good’ or ‘I better sit this one out.’” Actually, McSherry had told them he had the week planned out. Since it was a day game on Monday and they were scheduled for an off day on Tuesday, McSherry was going to New York for a doctor’s appointment. He told his crew that he wanted to get his medicine changed because he hadn’t been able to do it during spring training
The game started, but didn’t get very far. Seven pitches into the game, the 51-year-old McSherry pointed toward Rippley, waving at him, turned around as if he was headed to the locker room and collapsed
“He waved and knew he was having problems,” said Rippley, who was working second base and would have replaced McSherry on the plate
“I think he was trying to get off the field before something happened.” All three of his crewmates rushed in and quickly realized the seriousness of the situation
“I knew immediately, just looking, he was very labored in his breathing and then it looked like his breathing stopped,” Crawford said
“The emergency personnel attempted to do a great job and everyone handled themselves with a great deal of professionalism. They did everything they could
“In my mind, I can say John was probably embarrassed by it happening to him on the field. John never wanted the spotlight to be on him. He was probably embarrassed looking down on us that day trying to get him revived.” When the emergency personnel got McSherry out of the stadium, Crawford, who was the second-most senior umpire on the crew, and Rippley stayed behind while Hallion followed the ambulance to the hospital
While the umpires and players tried to figure out what would happen next, Rippley said he was disturbed and frustrated by the antics of the Reds’ notoriously frugal owner. “There was one person who didn’t give a crap how serious it was and that was Marge Schott,” Rippley said. “She wanted to play the game
She didn’t want to lose the gate.” Crawford said he and Rippley were willing to work the game with just two umpires, but that didn’t happen
“Thank goodness for the player representatives and managers,” Crawford said, referring to the Reds’ Barry Larkin and Manager Ray Knight and Expos’ Manager Felipe Alou and his son Moises. “They just said they weren’t going to play.” The game was canceled and made up the next day, the scheduled day off for both teams and umpires
Crawford would work the plate and Triple-A umpire Rich Rieker was called up to work third base. Rieker would be named McSherry’s fulltime replacement two weeks later
“Some fans had created a mini altar to John where we normally park,” Rieker said of arriving at the park the next day. “That was the first thing I saw. But it wasn’t just at the stadium, even the mood at the hotel was somber. To go in there and to see how it affected those people …” Rippley said McSherry’s death affected him for the rest of his career
“It’s something you’ll never forget about,” he said. “Taking the field, especially when you went back to Cincinnati, all those feelings are still there for you.” Crawford said it cast a pall over the entire season
“For our crew, the season was somewhat of a downer because of the start of it,” Crawford said. “John was a good friend to all of us. When something like that (happens) out of the chute, it affected us mentally. Not our work, but missing John. It created a vacuum when he left.” And even though Rieker wasn’t there that day, it affected him as well
“It’s not the way you want to get it,” he said, referring to his full-time NL contract. “I think everyone knew what a loss it was — not just the umpires but the fans and players as well. For us, we just wanted to get through the game and then the next one and then the next one.” And that was something that wasn’t easy, since Hallion said the crew was constantly reminded of McSherry
“Either it would be a photo or you would walk into a locker room or there was always a reminder there,” he said. “Not that it was bad to be reminded, but it took that whole year to get over what had happened. He taught me in umpire school. Not only did I lose an umpire and a colleague, but also a friend.”
Matt Moore is a Referee associate editor.
Published in Referee Magazine: September 2009 | Print | Email
Copyright© Referee Enterprises, Inc.
Important note: This article is archival in nature. Rules, interpretations, citations, mechanics and/or officiating philosophies found in this article may or may not be correct for the current year.
By Matt Moore
The night of March 31, 1996, John McSherry and his umpiring crewmates Jerry Crawford and Steve Rippley went out to dinner in advance of Opening Day in Cincinnati, where baseball’s annual first pitch was traditionally thrown
The Montreal Expos were in town to take on the Reds, and McSherry was beginning his 26th big league season
“John was in great spirits,” Crawford said recently. “That was somewhat unusual about John. He was very focused and normally he was a little tighter, especially when he worked the plate. But he was in a great frame of mind.” Nothing out of the ordinary happened before the game. The umpires, including Tom Hallion, who was not at dinner the night before because he commutes up from his Kentucky home when he works in Cincinnati, arrived at their typical time and prepared for the game
“John was a very nervous person,” Hallion said. “So what went on in the hour and a half before the game started was not unusual. It had snowed that morning, but it looked like we were going to be fine to get the game in. John joked around in his funny, dry way. I couldn’t tell you that I sensed anything outside of his normal nervousness. It was the same thing I had seen before working with him.” Crawford agreed that there was nothing abnormal about the day
“John had a routine when he was in the locker room. He rubbed his legs down with Flexall and prepared himself for the game. He made sure he was as fluid as he could be. He didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Whether he was feeling anything, he didn’t relay that to us
He didn’t say, ‘I’m not feeling good’ or ‘I better sit this one out.’” Actually, McSherry had told them he had the week planned out. Since it was a day game on Monday and they were scheduled for an off day on Tuesday, McSherry was going to New York for a doctor’s appointment. He told his crew that he wanted to get his medicine changed because he hadn’t been able to do it during spring training
The game started, but didn’t get very far. Seven pitches into the game, the 51-year-old McSherry pointed toward Rippley, waving at him, turned around as if he was headed to the locker room and collapsed
“He waved and knew he was having problems,” said Rippley, who was working second base and would have replaced McSherry on the plate
“I think he was trying to get off the field before something happened.” All three of his crewmates rushed in and quickly realized the seriousness of the situation
“I knew immediately, just looking, he was very labored in his breathing and then it looked like his breathing stopped,” Crawford said
“The emergency personnel attempted to do a great job and everyone handled themselves with a great deal of professionalism. They did everything they could
“In my mind, I can say John was probably embarrassed by it happening to him on the field. John never wanted the spotlight to be on him. He was probably embarrassed looking down on us that day trying to get him revived.” When the emergency personnel got McSherry out of the stadium, Crawford, who was the second-most senior umpire on the crew, and Rippley stayed behind while Hallion followed the ambulance to the hospital
While the umpires and players tried to figure out what would happen next, Rippley said he was disturbed and frustrated by the antics of the Reds’ notoriously frugal owner. “There was one person who didn’t give a crap how serious it was and that was Marge Schott,” Rippley said. “She wanted to play the game
She didn’t want to lose the gate.” Crawford said he and Rippley were willing to work the game with just two umpires, but that didn’t happen
“Thank goodness for the player representatives and managers,” Crawford said, referring to the Reds’ Barry Larkin and Manager Ray Knight and Expos’ Manager Felipe Alou and his son Moises. “They just said they weren’t going to play.” The game was canceled and made up the next day, the scheduled day off for both teams and umpires
Crawford would work the plate and Triple-A umpire Rich Rieker was called up to work third base. Rieker would be named McSherry’s fulltime replacement two weeks later
“Some fans had created a mini altar to John where we normally park,” Rieker said of arriving at the park the next day. “That was the first thing I saw. But it wasn’t just at the stadium, even the mood at the hotel was somber. To go in there and to see how it affected those people …” Rippley said McSherry’s death affected him for the rest of his career
“It’s something you’ll never forget about,” he said. “Taking the field, especially when you went back to Cincinnati, all those feelings are still there for you.” Crawford said it cast a pall over the entire season
“For our crew, the season was somewhat of a downer because of the start of it,” Crawford said. “John was a good friend to all of us. When something like that (happens) out of the chute, it affected us mentally. Not our work, but missing John. It created a vacuum when he left.” And even though Rieker wasn’t there that day, it affected him as well
“It’s not the way you want to get it,” he said, referring to his full-time NL contract. “I think everyone knew what a loss it was — not just the umpires but the fans and players as well. For us, we just wanted to get through the game and then the next one and then the next one.” And that was something that wasn’t easy, since Hallion said the crew was constantly reminded of McSherry
“Either it would be a photo or you would walk into a locker room or there was always a reminder there,” he said. “Not that it was bad to be reminded, but it took that whole year to get over what had happened. He taught me in umpire school. Not only did I lose an umpire and a colleague, but also a friend.”
Matt Moore is a Referee associate editor.