Former baseball player Jack Clark accused Albert Pujols, Justin Verlander, and former Dodgers star Shawn Green of using performance-enhancing drugs. Clark said when he was the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2000, “Chris Mihlfeld, who for a time was Pujols’ personal trainer,” told him that he “shot him up.”
“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 said on a radio program this week.
Clark also accused Verlander and Green of using steroids. All three players have not been accused or implicated in any steroids scandal. And Mihlfeld denied the accusations on Friday.
Clark told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch why he believed his accusations were true.
On what Mihlfeld allegedly told him about Pujols:
“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.”
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“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.
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“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.”
“I had a little smirk on my face when Albert came out of the clear blue when he … said, ‘Believe me’ when steroids issues were in the news again several years ago. Believe you about what, Albert?” Clark asked. “We always believe you. You’re a Christian guy, there’s nothing not to believe you about.”
On Justin Verlander:
“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.”
On Shawn Green:
“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.'”
Clark wasn’t finished.
“These guys that fake you out it’s very disappointing, especially when they are breaking records. Here I am in LA as the hitting coach and Shawn Green is breaking Duke Snider’s record (for home runs in a season while) cheating on steroids. It’s just disappointing to me.”
Verlander said Clark’s statements were “moronic,” especially since Verlander was throwing over 95 MPH in his last start. Mihlfeld told ESPN on Friday Clark’s statements were “simply not true.”
“I haven’t even talked to Jack Clark in close to 10 years. His statements are simply not true. I have known Albert Pujols since he was 18 years old, and he would never use illegal drugs in any way. I would bet my life on it and probably drop dead on the spot if I found out he has. As before, once again both Albert and myself have been accused of doing something we didn’t do.”
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