Ex-MLB slugger Jack Clark accuses Albert Pujols of using PEDs
Jack Clark claims he learned of Albert Pujols' alleged PED use while he was the Dodgers' hitting coach. (Danny Moloshok/Getty Images)
Former slugger and hitting coach Jack Clark has twice accused Albert Pujols of using a performance enhancing drug, according to Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In his first week as co-host of a St. Louis sport talks radio show on WGNU (920 AM), Clark twice named Pujols' former personal trainer Chris Mihfield as the source for his accusations.
From the Post-Dispatch:
[Clark] was the hitting coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 2000s when he said he was told by Chris Mihlfeld, who for a time was Pujols’ personal trainer, that Mihlfeld “shot him up.”
Clark has brought Pujols’ situation up at least twice already on the air. The first time, after Slaten said last Friday that he long has believed that Pujols “has been a juicer,” Clark jumped in before Slaten finished his thought and said, “I know for a fact he was. The trainer that worked with him, threw him batting practice from Kansas City, that worked him out every day, basically told me that’s what he did.”
Clark then talked about a conversation he had about a dozen years ago with Mihlfeld, who has worked as a conditioner with several major-league organizations. (Both men were with the Dodgers then, and Pujols was early in his career.)
Mihlfeld “had told me what he was doing with ‘Poolie’ — threw him batting practice, worked him out, shot him up, all that stuff,” Clark said on the air.
Caesar reports Dan Lozano, Pujols’ agent, declined comment when reached Thursday about the allegations.
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In 2006, Pujols defended himself and Mihlfeld after one of his clients, pitcher Jason Grimsley, was suspended by Major League Baseball and admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. Mihlfeld was also the baseball coach at the Kansas City junior college Pujols attended in 1998.
From the Post-Dispatch:
“I’ve said before I have nothing to worry about,” [Pujols] said amid the Mihlfeld controversy in 2006. “If they want to test me … then let’s go. I’ll do it tomorrow. No problem. But Chris has been put in a really unfair position. I know it bothers him. I hear it every time I talk to him.”
In a phone interview Thursday, Clark told Caesar that Mihlfeld suggested that he begin taking steroids.
From the Post-Dispatch:
“I had asked him about conditioning and working me out, what he would do for me, and he asked me whether I had ever thought of taking some steroids,” Clark said. “... He just told me that he wanted me to get started on steroids and he had some other guys that were doing it. He told me that’s how he’s conditioning this guy that he met out of high school and college and he looked like he was going to be a star, keep an eye on him.’’
“He told me, ‘Well you couldn’t do what I do with Albert Pujols, he’s on this real strenuous workout deal.’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t want to try to do that.’ Every day he kind of came to me and says, ‘you ready to do it? I’m ready to do it.’ I said, ‘Well I’m just not a needle guy, I’ve had enough surgeries and injuries over the years. I don’t like needles ... I’m not going to do that ... I’m not a player anymore.
“He had told me he had done that with Pujols, with steroids, and I really never thought too much about it because steroids were really not on my radar screen at that time.”
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Clark, a four-time All-Star, hit 340 home runs in 18 MLB seasons. He played for the Cardinals from 1985-87 after starting his career with the Giants (1975-84). He also had short stints with the Yankees (1988), Padres (1989-90) and Red Sox (1991-92).
He also wonders if Tiger pitcher Justin Verlander's former dominance, coupled with his current struggles -- which are perplexing because he has no apparent arm problems -- could be tied to PED use.
From the Post-Dispatch:
“Verlander was like Nolan Ryan, he threw 97, 98, 100 miles an hour from the first inning to the ninth inning,” Clark said on the air. “He got that big contract, now he can barely reach 92, 93. What happened to it? He has no arm problems, nothing’s wrong. It’s just the signs are there.
“The greed ... they juice up, they grab the money and it’s just a free pass to steal is the way I look at it.”
Clark also called out former Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green for displaying possible side effects of steroid use.
From the Post-Dispatch:
“I’ve seen Shawn Green leaving the clubhouse with a bunch of acne on his back and I walk past him (and say,) ‘Hey Greenie, see you later.’ He turned around to me and said (stammering) ‘I have an irritation.’ I said,’ I didn’t ask you (about the acne), I just said ‘See you later.’”
