Ex-MLB player Sean Burroughs dies while coaching son's Little League game
File: Sean Burroughs of the San Diego Padres poses for a portrait during photo day at Peoria Stadium on February 26, 2005 in Peoria, Arizona. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Sean Burroughs, a retired third-baseman who played for several MLB teams, passed away on Thursday at only 43 years old, according to multiple reports.
TMZ reports that Burroughs, the ninth-overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft, went into cardiac arrest on Thursday while coaching his son’s Little League game in California. According to Long Beach Little League, he did not survive.
"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," the league’s statement concluded.
Burroughs himself had played for Long Beach Little League as a teenager, helping the team win two LLWS titles and becoming the first American-born pitcher to throw back-to-back no-hitters.
The coach of that team was his father, Jeff Burroughs, a former American League MVP with the Texas Rangers.
File: Sean Burroughs of the Long Beach team looks on while standing next to an ABC Wide World of Sports banner during the Little League World Series on August 28, 1993 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)
Sean Burroughs went on to be taken by the San Diego Padres ninth overall in the 1998 MLB Draft. In his big-league debut a few years later, he hit a game-winning single.
Burroughs also played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Minnesota Twins, and won a gold medal in the Sydney Olympic Games.
During those years, his baseball career got sidetracked by drugs and alcohol. He later spoke with regret about the "dead time" he spent away from the game.
"A lot of things I, obviously, wish I could have changed, but, obviously, I can't change the past," he told FOX Sports in 2011. "It's part of my story. It's part of my journey."
Burroughs finished his major league career with a lifetime batting average of .278, 12 home runs and 142 RBIs over 528 games.
After retiring from the majors, Burroughs played minor league ball before returning to Long Beach Little League to coach his son.
This story was reported from Tampa, Florida.