Baseball suffered a tragedy on April 1, 1996 with the death of John McSherry at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. By all accounts he was a true professional in every sense and a warm, caring and wonderful person. He will be missed greatly by those close to him.

    For those of us who did not know John McSherry, his death places an issue, largely ignored, at the forefront of American consciousness. His tragedy puts us at a crossroads as to how a substantial segment of the population will be perceived. The issue is obesity in American society. While it is sad that it often takes such a tragedy to capture our attention [did we really think about domestic violence before OJ?], it is critical that the focus on John McSherry's death not be misplaced or misdirected.

    An autopsy has revealed that John McSherry died of coronary disease caused by arterial blockage, an irregular heartbeat and an enlarged heart. Coronary disease causes or contributes to thousands of deaths every year.

    But John McSherry also suffered from another disease I both hope and fear you will hear much about during the next few weeks: clinically severe or "morbid" obesity. He reportedly weighed 328 lbs at his death, although later reports place the number as high as 380 lbs.

    Please note that I call this a disease. There is no other appropriate word. John McSherry did not suffer from a character defect, nor did he lack personal discipline. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession clearly demonstrates that this man possessed extraordinary discipline and character.

    Obesity is a disease about which we know precious little. Medicine is working diligently, albeit slowly, toward determining its multiple causes and researching possible cures. Medical management and surgical intervention have both proven effective, at least in part, in treating this disease. However, medicine still has a long way to go.

    But the rest of us have much further to go. There is no question that discriminating against the obese is the last bastion of acceptable discrimination. I know. I am a recovering obese person, having once weighed 370 lbs at 5'10". Surgery has helped me reach and maintain 200 lbs. It is a sad but true commentary on today's society that I am generally perceived and treated far better now that I've lost 160-170 lbs. But this is not my story.

    The real tragedy which could overshadow the loss of a good man like John McSherry is the misdirected hysteria it may generate. Already ESPN's "SportCenter" has aired a segment addressing health and conditioning of major league umpires. Already there have been calls for umpires to be "put on a diet" or required to exercise. No doubt more such items will flood the airwaves in the media frenzy.

    I implore everyone who reads this to thoughtfully scrutinize their personal reaction to John McSherry's death. Remember that he was considered by all of his peers to be an outstanding umpire, repeatedly asked to train others in his profession. In short, he was a great umpire. All of this was accomplished despite his personal battle with morbid obesity. You cannot know how he felt physically and emotionally, in dealing with the stresses of his job. Everyday during the season he faced thousands of demanding baseball fans requiring absolute perfection in his performance. He would be routinely jeered, as are all other umpires, if the fans thought he missed a call. But remember: he wasn't just "blind," like other umps...he was fat and blind too. Unless you are obese, you will never appreciate how truly remarkable he was to put up with ridicule above and beyond his normal weighted peers.

    Think long and hard about your feelings when you hear the name "John McSherry" in the future. There can not, and must not, be a universal outcry by major league baseball, or by any other employer, to demote, suspend, dismiss or otherwise take action against an employee solely based on a fear of "what might happen" because of someone's weight. John McSherry's life and death are diminished in the worst way if we allow this tragedy to degenerate into a "witch hunt" based on numbers on a scale. John McSherry, and all of us who are suffering from this disease, deserve far better than that as a legacy.

    Rather, our societal reaction should be supportive of any obese person seeking and obtaining reasonable and medically necessary treatment of their disease. John McSherry sought such treatment from places as esteemed as Duke University. Sadly for him and us, the treatment modalities utilized, whatever they may have been, did not succeed. But just as we as a society do not condemn a cancer patient for moving from radiation therapy to chemotherapy to surgery in an effort to successful battle that disease, nor should anyone condemn an obese person for trying every available treatment to beat his or her disease. It is not simply a matter of achieving more or better discipline. Obese people are not flawed; we have an illness, every bit as real as cancer, AIDS or diabetes.

    Perhaps most importantly, society must change its attitude toward obesity. We should look down upon any person, organization, employer or group who discriminates against a person solely on the basis of weight to the same degree and with the same sense of outrage we feel when someone uses the "N word" or who judges people based upon their race, creed, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. Discrimination, no matter what its form or basis, is always despicable. Remember that the next time you tell or hear a "fat joke."

    Lastly, please let us not remember John McSherry as the "fat umpire who died on the field." Instead, let us remember him simply as the man he was: humble, forthright, highly competent with a love of the game and of life. Those qualities, and nothing else, made him a very big man. He will be missed. But let us not compound the tragedy as we face these crossroads.