Jack Clark gets fired from his talk radio show over Albert Pujols-PED accusation

[Benevolent One]

Boy, that escalated quickly.​

News broke yesterday that Jack Clark called out Albert Pujols for PEDs on his radio show. Then, later in the day,Albert Pujols indicated that he would sue Clark. Now Clark and his co-host have been fired. The Post-Dispatch has the statement from the company which employed Clark and his co-host and which, in turn, provided their services to the radio station on which they appeared:​

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Early Saturday, insideSTL announced it “has terminated its relationship with Jack Clark and Kevin Slaten. As independent contractors, we want to make it clear that the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of insideSTL. Also as independent contractors, insideSTL did not have editorial control over the show’s content.’’​

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Lost in all of this is that Clark and his co-host also talked about Justin Verlander and Shawn Green, using Verlander’s alleged velocity changes over the course of single games and over the years and Green’s back acne as “evidence” that they used PEDs too. Except Clark was dead wrong about Verlander’s velocity — it is virtually unchanged in terms of the patterns in games; he has always increased velocity as the game wore on, contrary to what Clark said — and the back acne thing has been widely debunked by dermatologists as a PED-signifier.​

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I’d say Clark should have been fired for that speculation alone, but clearly Pujols’ reaction and the publicity that came about as a result yesterday was what cost them their jobs.​

And in case you missed it, Pujols’ statement denying PED use was forceful and specific. Much different than what you typically hear from players accused of PED use”​

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“I’ve said time and time again that I would never take, or even consider taking, anything illegal,’’ Pujols said. “I’ve been tested hundreds of times throughout my career and never once have I tested positive. It is irresponsible and reckless for Jack Clark to have falsely accused me of using PEDs. My faith in Jesus Christ, and my respect for this game are too important to me. I would never be able to look my wife or kids in the eye if I had done what this man is accusing me of.​

“I know people are tired of athletes saying they are innocent, asking for the public to believe in them, only to have their sins exposed later down the road. But I am not one of those athletes, and I will not stand to have my name and my family’s name, dragged through the mud. I am currently in the process of taking legal action against Jack Clark and his employers at WGNU (920 AM).​

“I am going to send a message that you cannot act in a reckless manner, like they have, and get away with it. If I have to be the athlete to carry the torch and pave the way for other innocent players to see that you can do something about it, I am proud to be that person.​

“I have five young children and I take being a role model very seriously. The last thing I want is for the fans, and especially the kids out there, to question my reputation and character.”​

 

[Benevolent One]

The above is from hardballtalk.nbcsports.com. I happen to agree with pretty much everything said in the article however. You can't unring the bell. Once you claim someone is a steroid user, in today's climate, they are tarnished in the eyes of many. I know that as a hitter who put up otherworldly type numbers for 10 years or so, there are going to be people who suspect that it may be chemically enhanced. Especially in light of how his numbers have fallen off pretty sharply since going to Anaheim. Personally, while I would not be shocked to find out that any MLB player has used PED's, but I would be pretty surprised if Pujols is one of them. He just doesn't seem like that kind of a guy to me.

Justin Verlander may not be my favorite player, mostly just because he plays for my team's chief rival. I do respect him, though, as a player and as a person from what I know of his actions off of the field. He is a finalist for the Bob Feller Award given by the US Navy to players who do the most to support our troops. I watched the guy pitch against my Indians the other night and he was hitting the upper 90's consistently and even hit 100 a few times, so I have no idea what Clark was talking about when he said that Verlander's velocity was down.

The thing is that Jack Clark has always ran his mouth about things he has no business talking about. He has thrown teammates and even managers under the bus on many occasions during his playing career. I find it hard to believe that he was given a radio show, even a local show in the town where he played most of his career. I kind of hope that the radio station doesn't lose a lot of money in this deal, but they had to know that putting that douchebag on the air was risky.