The death of Sean Burroughs, who helped Long Beach win back-to-back Little League World Series titles in the early 1990s, was caused by fentanyl poisoning, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner.
A report released this week by the medical examiner's office ruled the death of Burroughs, 43, in May an accident. The location of death is listed as “vehicle.”
On May 9, Burroughs, the ninth overall pick in the 1998 MLB draft, collapsed in the parking lot of Stearns Park in Long Beach after dropping off his 6-year-old son for baseball practice, Long Beach Little League president Doug Wittman told the Long Beach Press-Telegram at the time. Burroughs’ mother, Debbie, told the news outlet that her son had gone into cardiac arrest.
Wittman told the Press-Telegram that Burroughs was found unconscious next to his car and unresponsive when CPR was performed. The Long Beach Fire Department responded to 9-1-1 calls and pronounced Burroughs dead at the scene.
Burroughs, the son of former American League MVP Jeff Burroughs, was a star player on the Long Beach team that won the Little League World Series in 1992 and 1993, pitching back-to-back no-hitters during the latter tournament. He also played for the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.
After playing for the San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 2002-06, Sean Burroughs was out of baseball for several years, later telling ESPN that he had suffered from substance abuse during part of that time. But he managed to return to the major leagues, playing 78 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and 10 games for the Minnesota Twins in 2012.
Burroughs played for a Dodgers minor league affiliate in 2013 before eventually returning to Long Beach, where he coached his son in Little League. In a statement released after Burroughs' death, Wittman referred to him as “a legend in Little League and the baseball community.”
“I have had the privilege of coaching with Sean for the past two years and he always had a fun, friendly attitude that drew the kids to him,” Wittman wrote, “a wealth of baseball knowledge that could get any kid out of a hitting rut and a humility worth emulating. To say this is a huge loss is an understatement.”
