Olympic Gold medalist and former Major League Baseball player Sean Burroughs has died at the age of 43, according to an Instagram post by Long Beach Little League, where Burroughs was a coach.
According to ESPN, Burroughs’ cause of death was cardiac arrest. He collapsed on May 9 in a parking lot after dropping his son off for a Little League game, according to the Orange County Register.
Burroughs “earned a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Team USA” and “played in the Little League World Series for Long Beach, helping guide the team to Championships in 1992 and 1993, MLB.com reported.
According to MLB.com, he was chosen ninth by the San Diego Padres in the draft’s first round in 1998. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, but attended high school in Long Beach, MLB.com reported, noting that he was the son of Jeff Burroughs. the “former Major League 1974 American League MVP.”
His career spanned many professional baseball teams, including the San Diego Padres, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Register reported, adding that his Olympic gold came “as a member of the USA Baseball National Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.”
The Long Beach Little League Statement Says That Sean Burroughs Was a Legend in ‘the Baseball Community’
The Instagram statement was signed by the LBLL President and Board of Directors.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this message to inform you that yesterday afternoon one of our Coaches, Sean Burroughs, tragically passed away,” it says. “Sean was a legend in LBLL and the baseball community for winning back-to-back Little League World Series Championships for LBLL in 1992 and 1993. While he left LB to play for several clubs in the MLB, he returned to his home fields at Stearns Champion Park to coach his son.”
The statement continues:
I have had the privilege of coaching with Sean for the past two years and he always came with a fun and friendly attitude the kids were drawn to, a wealth of baseball knowledge that could get any kid out of a batting rut, and humility worth emulating. To say this is a huge loss is an understatement. But what makes LBLL special is our community, we are a family. Families celebrate the highest highs and lift each other up during the lowest lows.
We will have his family in our thoughts and prayers during this time and try to end the season playing the kind of baseball Coach Sean would be proud of.
Sean Burroughs Was Discovered Unconscious Next to His Car in a Parking Lot, Reports Say
GettySean Burroughs.
According to the Orange County Register, Long Beach Little League president Doug Wittman confirmed Burroughs’ death, and his mother Debbie confirmed that he died of “cardiac arrest.”
Wittman told the Register that Burroughs “was found unconscious next to his car in the parking lot at Stearns Champions Park in Long Beach after he dropped off his 6-year-old son, Knox, for a Little League game.”
He did not respond to CPR and was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders, Wittman told the Register.
“It was very shocking,” Wittman said to the newspaper. “It’s a real sense of family at Long Beach Little League. So when we lose one of our own, it hurts.”
At age 12, Burroughs appeared on “The Late Show With David Letterman” after he threw no-hitters in Little League, according to the newspaper.
Sean Burroughs Batted .528 as a High School Senior in Long Beach Before Joining the Major Leagues
GettySean Burroughs.
According to his MLB.com biography, Sean Patrick Burroughs was a “1998 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, batting .528 (47-for-89) with seven home runs and 38 rbi in 29 games as a senior.”
He rejected a baseball scholarship from the University of Southern California to play for the Padres, according to MLB.com, and Burroughs and his dad were the “second father-son tandem to be drafted in the first round (the first was Tom and Ben Greive, in 1966 and 1994 respectively)”
MLB.com also notes that he was named the Little League “tournament MVP in 1993, batting .600 and pitching a pair of 16-strikeout no-hitters.”
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Olympic Gold Medalist Dies Suddenly at Age 43 After Collapsing in Parking Lot