Outfielder With Heart Ailment Might Sue to Play
The University of Texas has prohibited freshman outfielder Stephen Larkin from playing baseball because he suffers from a heart condition.
Larkin, the younger brother of Cincinnati Red shortstop Barry Larkin, has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is an enlargement of the walls of his heart causing restricted blood flow into the pumping chamber.
Larkin said that he is considering transferring from the school if he is not allowed to return and has asked his parents to consider seeking an injunction against the school that would allow him to play.
“I want to stay here, but if they say (he can’t play), I’m going to go somewhere else,” Larkin said.
Larkin, 18, said his father, Robert, and brother Byron, a former basketball star at Xavier, have the same condition and have never encountered problems with it.
Larkin has not played in the fourth-ranked Longhorns’ last seven games despite being the team’s third-leading hitter with a .338 average.
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