Sean Burroughs, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist and first overall pick in the MLB draft, died before he was set to coach his son in a Little League game on Thursday, May 9. He was 43 years old.
California’s Long Beach Little League announced in a statement via Instagram that the baseball player “tragically passed away” Thursday afternoon. Burroughs’ mother, Debbie, told the Southern California News Group that the cause of death was cardiac arrest, writes ESPN.
After dropping off his son, Knox, 6, at a Little League game he was supposed to officiate, Burroughs was found unconscious next to his car in a Long Beach ballpark parking lot, league president Doug Wittman reports, according to The Orange County Register .
After the discovery, Long Beach Fire Department personnel responded to 9-1-1 calls, but when first responders arrived, the baseball player was pronounced dead.
Sean Burroughs on April 14, 2012 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bruce Kluckhohn/Minnesota Twins/Getty
“It was very shocking,” Wittman told The Orange County Register. “That’s the real feeling of family in Long Beach Little League. So when we lose one of our own, it hurts.”
Burroughs, the son of 1974 American League MVP Jeff Burroughs, won Little League World Series Championships for LBLL in 1992 and 1993. During the LLWS, he threw back-to-back no-hitters. The achievement earned him a performance at The Late Show with David Letterman at only 12 years old.
A statement from the Long Beach League on Friday honored the late baseball player for his work in the Long Beach and baseball communities. “It is an understatement to say that it is a great loss,” the statement said. We will keep his family in our thoughts and prayers during this time and try to finish the season playing the kind of baseball that Coach Sean would be proud of.
The National Little League Baseball and Softball organization honored the Burroughs Little League days with an Instagram post Friday.
Burroughs’ professional baseball career began in 1998 when he was selected by the San Diego Padres as the ninth overall pick in that year’s MLB Draft.
In 2000, he was selected to the US Olympic baseball team and helped the team win its first gold medal in Sydney.
“We at USA Baseball are heartbroken to hear of Sean’s tragic passing,” USA Baseball CEO and CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “Sean was part of one of our most beloved teams and represented our country on and off the field in a first class manner. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Burroughs family during this time.”
Two years after the Olympics, he served as the Padres’ third baseman, making his major league debut that April.
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Sean Burroughs during the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia on September 18, 2000.
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In 2006, he was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays, who released him that August. He then briefly went to the Seattle Mariners before retiring in 2007. He later played for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and the Minnesota Twins in 2012.
In 2011, he shared with ESPN that he walked away from the field because he “didn’t have the drive or the passion.”
“I was exhausted physically and mentally,” Burroughs explained. “It just wasn’t there. I was emotionally drained. I still loved the game and respected it, but I didn’t have the desire to go to the park every day. I kind of lost the desire.”
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Sean Burroughs on April 8, 2002 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
Sports News via Getty
He also revealed that he struggled with substance abuse, and briefly lived in motels in Las Vegas and ate out of trash cans. Eventually, he returned to his childhood home and prepared to play baseball again. In 2015, he played 79 games for the independent Long Island Ducks.
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Burroughs is survived by his parents and son Knox.
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