Former MLB infielder Sean Burroughs has died at the age of 43. The seven-year major leaguer collapsed while coaching his son’s Little League team, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
Burroughs was the first-round pick (No. 9 overall) of the San Diego Padres in 1998. He played four seasons with the Padres and one each with the Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins.
After his stint with the Rays in 2005, Burroughs was out of baseball for several years while struggling with drug addiction and alcoholism. But D-Backs general manager Kevin Towers, who was the Padres GM when Burroughs was drafted, gave him a comeback opportunity in 2011. In an interview with ESPN’s Jim Caple, he candidly shared how far he had fallen.
“I really haven’t talked too much about what it was, but it was stuff that definitely wasn’t healthy taking for a long, long time, that’s for sure,” Burroughs told Caple (via MLB Trade Rumors). “I was kind of like a garbage can. Whatever I had or needed, I would find and take it.”
During his career, Burroughs hit .278 with a .690 OPS, 68 doubles, 12 home runs, 143 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 528 games. His best season was in 2003, his first full major league season. He batted .286 with a .755 OPS, 27 doubles, seven homers, 58 RBI and seven steals.
Burroughs dying while coaching his son in Little League seems especially poignant considering his accomplished youth sports career. He was part of two consecutive Little League World Series championship teams in 1992 and 1993 with Long Beach (California). In the 1993 Little League World Series, Burroughs pitched two consecutive no-hitters, notching 16 strikeouts and batting .600.
“Sean was a legend in LLBL and the baseball community,” Long Beach Little League president Doug Wittman wrote on social media. “While he left [Long Beach] to play for several clubs in the MLB, he returned to his home fields at Stearns Champions Park to coach his son.”
““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,” he added. “To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.”
Little League International noted Burroughs’ death on its website.
Burroughs also won a Gold Medal with Team USA at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
“We at USA Baseball are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of Sean,” USA Baseball executive director/CEO Paul Seiler said in a statement. “Sean was a part of one of our most beloved teams, and he 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.”
Burroughs was the son of Jeff Burroughs, a 16-year major leaguer who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1969 MLB Draft by the Washington Senators and won the American League MVP award in 1974 with the Texas Rangers.
Source Agencies
