Shawn Burroughs, the Little League World Series winner, 2000 Olympic gold medalist and first-round pick in the MLB draft, has died at the age of 43.
The Long Beach (Calif.) Junior Club said in a Statement posted on Instagram Burroughs “died tragically” Thursday afternoon. His mother, Debbie, told the Southern California News Group that the cause of death was cardiac arrest.
According to Long Beach Little League President Doug Whitman, Burroughs was found unconscious next to his car in the parking lot of the Long Beach stadium after he dropped off his son Knox for a Little League game.
CPR was performed on Burroughs in hopes of reviving him, but he remained unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after, Whitman said.
“It was very shocking,” Whitman told the Orange County Register. “It’s a real sense of family in Long Beach Little League. So when we lose one of our own, it hurts.”
In their statement, the Long Beach Little League praised Burroughs as “a legend in the LBLL and the baseball community for winning back-to-back LBLL Little League World Series championships in 1992 and 1993.”
The statement continued: “To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.” to.”
Burroughs threw back-to-back no-hitters to help Long Beach win back-to-back Little League championships and then went on to star at Long Beach Wilson High School.
The son of the 1974 American League MVP, Jeff Burroughs, was selected with the No. 9 overall pick by the San Diego Padres in 1998. The third baseman made his major league debut in April 2002, recording the Padres’ first win at Petco. Park dated in 2004 and exited baseball in 2007 before returning to play from 2011 to 2012.
“I didn’t have the drive or the passion,” Burroughs told ESPN in June 2011 of his decision to step away from the game. “I was physically and mentally spent. It just wasn’t there. I was emotionally exhausted. I still love and respect the game, but I didn’t have the motivation to go to the park every day. I kind of lost the desire.”
Burroughs told ESPN that he was a drug user, living in cheap hotels in Las Vegas and eating out of dumpsters. It wasn’t until he looked in the mirror, decided he didn’t recognize himself and vowed to change things.
He returned to his childhood home, under the house rules, and got back into baseball shape.
Burroughs played for the Padres from 2002 to 2005 and was traded to Tampa Bay in late 2005. The Rays released him the following August. After a short stint in the Seattle Mariners organization, he walked away from the game.
He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and finished his MLB career in 2012 after 10 games with the Minnesota Twins.
Burroughs played 79 games with the independent Long Island Ducks (2015-16), winning the Atlantic League pennant in 2015.
Burroughs was selected for the 2000 USA team that won its first ever gold medal in Sydney, played in four games at the Olympics and compiled a .375 batting average.
“We at USA Baseball are deeply saddened to hear of Sean’s tragic passing,” USA Baseball Executive Director and CEO Paul Seller 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 Burrows family during this time.”
In his major league career, Burroughs appeared in 528 games, batted .278, hit 12 home runs and drove in 143.
Field-level media contributed to this report.
