Former MLB slugger Jack Clark began working as a radio host on WGNU 920 AM’s afternoon slot this week, and he has already managed to gain national attention. Clark, who belted 340 home runs over his 18-year MLB career, has mentioned twice how former personal trainer Chris Mihlfeld told him he injected Albert Pujols with performance-enhancing drugs.
Mihlfeld used to be Pujols’ personal trainer. In 2006, Mihlfeld’s name was linked to performance-enhancing drugs after Jason Grimsley, one of his former clients, admitted to taking steroids. That resulted in Pujols having to defend himself against PED accusations, which has has done several times since.
During a phone interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday, Clark spoke about how he worked with Mihlfeld in 2000 as a coach of the Los Angeles Dodgers and said the former personal trainer tried to encourage him to take steroids like Pujols was. Clark claims he was simply looking for a nutrition program, which led to the following exchange with Mihlfeld.
“He told me, ‘Well you couldn’t do what I do with Albert Pujols, he’s on this real strenuous workout deal.’” Clark explained. “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.
“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.”
Clark clarified that he never saw Pujols receive an injection and that he is simply going by what Mihlfeld told him. To our knowledge, Pujols has never failed a drug test since the MLB’s testing policy was put into place.
One of the main points Clark made was that he believes MLB players use PEDs when they’re on the verge of signing a big contract. That would help explain why Pujols has been plagued by injuries as of late. In Clark’s opinion, it could also help explain Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander’s dip in production.
“Verlander was like Nolan Ryan, he threw 97, 98, 100 miles an hour from the first inning to the ninth inning,” Clark said on his radio show Monday. “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.”
Again, Clark has no concrete evidence. He’s simply speculating like countless others have. Unless a player fails a test or finds his name tied to some massive PED investigation like Biogenesis, the league has to assume they are clean. That doesn’t mean the same is true for fans, analysts and former players.
