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.

[5][6] On July 4, 1972, he ejected Astros manager Harry Walker from a game for arguing that Pittsburgh Pirates batter Al Oliver had failed to touch first base on a double.

On April 1, 1996, the Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos were playing an Opening Day game, and McSherry was the home plate umpire.

Seven pitches into the game, McSherry called a timeout, spoke briefly to Reds catcher Eddie Taubensee, then walked towards the tunnel behind home plate that leads to the umpires' dressing room.

Moments after signaling for the second base umpire to come in and replace him, McSherry stumbled forward and collapsed face-first onto the warning track in front of the tunnel door.

An autopsy revealed that McSherry had suffered a massive heart attack, caused by severe coronary artery disease.

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.

"[9] 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.

"[17] In 1984, Steve Wulf had written in Sports Illustrated that McSherry "makes your average sumo wrestler look like Freddie Patek.

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.

[21] In memory of McSherry, the Reds dedicated Riverfront Stadium's umpires' dressing room to him, and the National League retired his number 10.