DALLAS (TX)
Yahoo Sports
January 15, 2019
By Liz Roscher
John Wetteland, former MLB pitcher and member of the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame, was arrested Monday on a charge of child sex abuse.
The Dallas Morning News reported that the 52-year-old Wetteland, who currently resides in Trophy Club, Texas, has been accused of continuously sexually abusing a child under the age of 14.
Wetteland pitched in the majors from 1989 to 2000, moving from starter to closer in 1990 and finding success with the Montreal Expos, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He was named the World Series MVP in 1996 with the Yankees, but the team allowed him to become a free agent weeks later due to the emergence of Marino Rivera. He signed with the Rangers and spent four seasons in Arlington, retiring at 33 after becoming the team’s all-time saves leader with 150 — a record he still holds.
He moved to coaching after that, and was hired as pitching coach by the Washington Nationals in 2006. But Wetteland was fired after six months due to persistent practical jokes and failing to listen to manager Frank Robinson, who asked him to stop multiple times. He was the pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners in 2009 and 2010, but that stint wasn’t without incident. In November 2009, Wetteland was hospitalized after police were called to his home to respond to a possible suicide threat. The incident was blamed on elevated blood pressure and heart rate issues in a statement released by Wetteland and the Mariners.
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