Sean Burroughs, a former first-round draft pick of the Padres who became a part of Petco Park history, has died. He was 43.
Burroughs delivered a walk-off hit with two outs in the 10th inning as the Padres won their first-ever regular-season game at Petco Park on April 8, 2004.
“It was like out of a fictional novel, almost,” Burroughs said that night. “There were things that went on in this game that I think we’re never going to forget.”
Burroughs played parts of four seasons with the club, posting career-highs of seven home runs and 58 RBIs in 2003.
Long before making his big-league debut, Burroughs was celebrated baseball standout who led the Long Beach All-Stars to back-to-back Little League World Series titles.
Long Beach Little League announced Burroughs’ death in a statement posted on Instagram. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Burroughs was one of the most decorated amateur baseball players in history. The son of 1974 American League Most Valuable Player Jeff Burroughs, Sean starred as a pitcher and hitter on the Long Beach teams that won consecutive Little League World Series in 1992 and 1993.
He threw back-to-back no-hitters in the LLWS as a 12-year-old and appeared on “The Late Show With David Letterman.”
He continued to star at Long Beach’s Wilson High School and was drafted ninth overall by the Padres in 1998. He won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the USA Baseball National Team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and made his major-league debut with the Padres in 2002.
Burroughs hit .282 with 11 home runs in four seasons as the Padres’ starting third baseman before being traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2006. He hit just .190 in eight games for Tampa Bay before being released.
He played four games with the Mariners’ Triple-A in 2007 before leaving baseball. He battled alcohol and drug abuse and spent three years living in Las Vegas before getting clean and making a comeback. He appeared in 78 games with the National League West champion Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and 10 games with the Minnesota Twins in 2012.
Glaser is freelance writer. Union-Tribune sports editor Ryan Finley contributed to this story.
