little league®International mourns the death of two-time Little League champion Sean Burrows® He is the son of World Series champion and former major leaguer Jeff Burrows, who passed away suddenly at the age of 43 while coaching his son’s Little League game.
As a child, Sean became the first American-born player to throw consecutive no-hitters in the Little League Baseball World Series and later led his Long Beach, California Little League team to back-to-back championships. He won the championship in 1992 and 1993, making history as the first American league to win the championship. During both of these historic runs, Sean had the opportunity to relive those memories with his father Jeff as his coach. During his 1993 appearance, Sean had a then-record 16 strikeouts as part of a no-hitter and went on to hit .600 in the World Series.
“I think the most important thing to remember about Little League is to not take everything too seriously,” he said in a statement. 2013 interview. “Sometimes kids can get too showy when they see themselves on TV. I think that’s part of the fun, but at the same time it takes away from the most essential part of the game, which is winning as a team. You can’t. If the team can win with 0-for-4, that’s important.”
After an impressive performance in Little League, Sean was drafted ninth overall in the 1998 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres and was named MVP of the 2000 All-Star Futures Game. Debuting with the Padres in 2002, he hit the winning hit in his first home game and went on to play four seasons with the club.
In addition to playing three more seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Minnesota Twins, he helped lead the U.S. team to a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
