Jack Clark fired after Pujols comments
All sides are weighing lawsuits after Clark alleged that Albert Pujols used PEDs, which Pujols denies.
DURING HIS 18-year major league career, Jack Clark was known as "Jack the Ripper." It could have been for the vicious cuts he took at the plate or for the way he blasted teammates and managers.
Last week, while on the air on WGNU in St. Louis, Clark said that former Cardinals superstar Albert Pujols, who is now a Los Angeles Angel, took performance-enhancing drugs, stating that Pujols' former trainer, Chris Mihlfeld, told him 10 years ago that he injected Pujols with PEDs.
Pujols has vehemently denied the allegations and said he's planning to sue Clark, though no suit had been filed as of yesterday.
Clark, after a week on the job, was fired. So, too, was Clark's radio partner, Kevin Slaten.
Slaten, as well, believes Pujols has used PEDs.
"All I said [on the air] is what I've said for years," Slaten said. "It's always been my belief that Pujols is using, but it's just my opinion."
Slaten said yesterday that he plans to sue over his termination. And Clark told a newspaper that he was weighing a lawsuit.
Mihlfeld, meanwhile, told ESPN.com that Clark's comments "are simply not true. . . . he would never use illegal drugs in any way."
Clark has a history of making outrageous comments. He had run-ins with managers Frank Robinson, Lou Piniella and Greg Riddoch, saying of Riddoch: "He's a bad, bad man, and he's sneaky. He's a snake. Well, not just a snake, but a s-s-s-n-n-n-a-ke."
He called St. Louis Cardinals teammate Ozzie Smith "a speck."
In 1990, he said San Diego Padres teammate Tony Gwynn was "fat," "selfish" and a "bleeping singles hitter."
After a year in a Yankee uniform, he blasted the American League. "I hate that damn league," he said.
By the spring of 1993, his career was over.
After all these years, it's amazing that Clark never learned when to keep his mouth shut.