Several Yankees — past and present — last night expressed concern for 1996 World Series MVP John Wetteland.
The former Yankees closer was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after a frantic 911 call came from Wetteland’s home near Dallas.
The Mariners, for whom Wetteland worked this past season as the bullpen coach, issued a statement saying Wetteland was treated for an elevated heart rate and released from the hospital.
Attempts yesterday by The Post to obtain the 911 transcript from Denton County, Texas, officials were unsuccessful. A police spokesman was quoted Thursday as saying that a woman making the 911 call described Wetteland as depressed and considering suicide.
Upon his release from the hospital, however, Wetteland told a different story.
“My wife and I are very appreciative of the over and above care of our local officers and paramedics,” he said in the statement released by the Mariners on Thursday night. “The circumstances leading to my elevated blood pressure and heart rate have been addressed.”
Before Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation dinner at Chelsea Piers last night, David Cone said it was a relief to hear Wetteland had left the hospital.
“I hope it’s nothing more serious than we were first led to believe,” said Cone, a teammate of Wetteland’s on the 1996 world championship club. “John has always been a complicated guy. He was a thinker. He wasn’t your typical dumb jock. He was a guy who had been through a lot off the field and a cerebral kind of guy.”
Torre said Wetteland attended the manager’s foundation dinner in recent years. Torre recalled Wetteland as somebody who marched to a different beat.
“He was very special; a very honest individual,” Torre said. “He continues to be his own person, and I think that is what you take notice of first.”
Mariano Rivera said he wasn’t aware Wetteland had been rushed to the hospital.
“It’s a guy I have tremendous respect for and he was my mentor, so I’ll be praying for him,” said Rivera, who set up Wetteland in 1996 before assuming the closer’s role for the Yankees the following year.
Derek Jeter also indicated he hadn’t heard about Wetteland’s situation.
“It sounds unfortunate, but I don’t know the details,” Jeter said. “You wish him well. You wish him and his family well, but for me to comment without even knowing what happened would be wrong, but you just wish him well.”
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.