PED comment costs Jack Clark, co-host jobs

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Former St. Louis Cardinals star Jack Clark is out of his sports talk radio job along with co-host after saying Albert Pujols took performance-enhancing drugs.

Clark said on the air last week on WGNU in St. Louis that Pujols’ former trainer, Chris Mihlfeld, told him 10 years ago that he injected PEDs into Pujols, the former Cardinals great now in his second season with the Angels but sidelined by a foot injury.

Pujols responded with a vehement denial on Friday night and said he planned to take legal action against Clark and his employers.

Early Saturday, the company that owns the show hosted by Clark and Kevin Slaten, insideSTL Enterprises LLC, said in a statement that Clark “is no longer associated with the company,” then later cancelled the show, costing Slaten his job, too.

“Any opinions, views or statements made by him (Clark) strictly reflect his own personal views and do not reflect the views of insideSTL,” the statement read. “insideSTL Enterprises, LLC and any related companies have never asserted and do not assert that Albert Pujols has ever used steroids or any other type of performing enhancing drug.”

In his statement on Friday, Pujols said he planned legal action to send a message “that you cannot act in a reckless manner, like they have, and get away with it.” As of Monday no lawsuit had been filed by Pujols in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, or in state court in Missouri.

Mihlfeld told ESPN.com that Clark’s comments “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.”

Slaten said Monday that he plans to sue over his termination. He said he didn’t know why he was let go.

“All I said 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.”

Clark told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he was weighing a lawsuit. A telephone listing for Clark could not be found. A spokesman for the Albert Pujols Foundation in St. Louis referred calls to Pujols’ agent.

Pujols spent 11 seasons in St. Louis before signing with the Angels prior to the 2012 season. Clark, 57, played three of his 18 seasons in St. Louis and was part of National League pennant-winning teams in 1985 and 1987.