PINSTRIPE PERV BUST
Yanks’ World Series MVP faces child sex charge
Ex-Yankees closer John Wetteland, the MVP of the 1996 World Series for the champion Bronx Bombers, was freed on $25,000 bond Tuesday after his Texas arrest as a pedophile in a case allegedly involving a 4-year-old child.
Wetteland, 52, a born-again Christian and former Bible studies teacher, was arrested Monday for the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, according to jail records in Denton County, Texas.
According to a consolidated complaint and probable cause affidavit, Wetteland, a father of four, is accused of having a child perform a sex act on him, beginning in 2004 when the child was 4. The accuser said it happened twice more during a two-year period, The Associated Press reported.
WFAA-TV in Texas reported the affidavit said the assault occurred in a bathroom shower at Wetteland’s home in Bartonville, Texas.
Local authorities, however, declined to provide any details “due to the nature of the alleged offense and the stage of the investigation,” said Bobby Dowell, chief of police in Bartonville.
Police were contacted last Wednesday about the sex abuse case by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, with Denton County Sheriff’s deputies taking Wetteland into custody. He was arrested and released five days later.
The right-handed reliever, a member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, showed no emotion as he stared into the camera for his police mug shot.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pound Wetteland saved 43 games for the Yankees as they won their first World Series since 1978 — with the hurler closing all four wins in the Fall Classic.
He traded his pinstripes for a Texas Rangers jersey after winning the championship, turning the bullpen job over to his set-up man (and future Hall of Famer) Mariano Rivera.
In his final four years with the Rangers, Wetteland rang up 150 saves to boost his career total to 330. Wetteland also pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Montreal Expos before his trade to the Yankees in 1995 for the forgettable Fernando Sequignol and cash. The California native spent just two years in the Bronx.
Wetteland formerly worked as a baseball coach and Bible studies teacher at the Liberty Christian School, but was reportedly no longer affiliated with the institution. He and his wife were divorced in 2015.
His postretirement career came with some controversy, including his 2006 firing as bullpen coach by Washington Nationals manager Frank Robinson — who ripped Wetteland’s lack of preparation.
“They seem to focus a little bit more on practical jokes and fooling around out there in the bullpen rather than focusing and concentrating on the game,” griped Hall of Famer Robinson. “I just couldn’t put up with it anymore.”
Three years later in Seattle, he was hospitalized after a reported suicide threat that was later recast as a medical issue with elevated blood pressure and a rapid heart rate.