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Rare Heart Conditions Killed Former Rays Pitcher

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By Marc Lancaster of The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2008

TAMPA - A rare combination of heart conditions led to the death of former Rays pitcher Joe Kennedy last fall, the Hillsborough County medical examiner determined.

An autopsy found the 28-year-old Kennedy, who collapsed at his in-laws' home Nov. 23 and later was pronounced dead at Brandon Regional Hospital, suffered from hypertensive heart disease and myxoid valvular disease.

Hypertensive heart disease causes a thickening of the heart's muscular wall and myxoid valvular disease affects the way blood flows through the chambers of the heart.
"Both are capable of causing electrical instability [in the heart] and cardiac arrest," Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County medical examiner, said Tuesday.

The two conditions are common in certain segments of the population, said Adams – hypertensive heart disease with older people and the valvular disease, sometimes called mitral valve prolapse, with middle-aged women in particular.

"The combination of those two at his age is uncommon," said Adams.

Kennedy spent much of the last three seasons with the Oakland A's. Their team physician, Allan Pont, told the San Francisco Chronicle Monday that Kennedy's family history of heart disease prompted the team to administer various cardiovascular tests, including an electrocardiogram and an echocardiogram.

"He had a pretty extensive cardiological exam, and everything was clear," Pont told the Chronicle. "… There were no abnormalities to suggest anything wrong with his heart. This is extremely unusual, sudden death in an athlete. It is very rare."

Adams said neither the electrocardiogram nor the echocardiogram is particularly sensitive to the diseases that afflicted Kennedy and it wasn't a surprise that the tests didn't detect those conditions.
Kennedy, a California native, was the Rays' eighth-round pick in the 1998 draft. He broke into the majors as a 22-year-old in 2001, going 7-8 with a 4.44 ERA in 20 starts for Tampa Bay. He spent the next two seasons pitching for the Rays before being dealt to Colorado on Dec. 14, 2003, for Mark Hendrickson.

The Rockies traded the left-hander to Oakland in July of 2005 and he pitched for the A's through last summer. The Arizona Diamondbacks claimed him off waivers last August and he made three appearances for them before being cut and eventually signing with the Toronto Blue Jays to close out the season.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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