Albert Pujols former trainer denies that he told Jack Clark that Pujols took PED’s.
By Chase Ruttig
Earlier today it was reported that radio host and former MLB player Dan Clark has been making claims that a St. Louis Cardinals trainer had admitted to him off record that former Cardinal Albert Pujols had used PED’s on his watch.
FS.com editor Josh Sanchez broke the story of Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch passing along comments from Clark that took place during his show with co-host Kevin Slaten at WGNU 920 AM.
"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 Chris 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."
Now Mihfeld is denying those claims.
When reached by ESPN.com’s T.J. Quinn Friday, the former trainer Mihlfeld said: “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.”
Clark, a former four time All-Star who his over 300 home runs in his MLB career has long been an opponent of PED use in baseball. Now he has turned his attention to Pujols, with the bad reputations of seemingly every other prolific power hitter of the 00’s it might just be a matter of time before Pujols’ sees his name dragged through the mud. For now Mihlfeld is defending Pujols and denying the claims.