Major League Baseball

Clark to Pujols: Take lie detector test

Published Oct. 14, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Sam Gardner

Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Jack Clark, accusing the former All-Star, Dodgers hitting coach and broadcaster of defaming him when he made an on-air accusation that Pujols used performance-enhancing drugs more than a decade ago.

Now, Clark has responded, challenging Pujols to take a dual lie detector test with him to clear his name — and settle the suit — once and for all.

The squabble started back in August, when Clark first made the assertion that Pujols used PEDs.

During Clark’s "The King and The Ripper" radio show on WGNU in St. Louis — Pujols’ former stomping grounds — Clark’s co-host Kevin Slaten implied that he believed Pujols to be a “juicer,” to which Clark replied: "I know for a fact he was. The trainer who worked with him, threw him batting practice from Kansas City, that worked him out every day, basically told me that's what he did."

A short time later — after Clark was fired from the gig — Pujols threatened that he would file a lawsuit over the remarks, and on Oct. 4, he did just that, accusing Clark of "malicious, reckless and outrageous falsehoods" about him. The lawsuit alleged that Clark made up the story as part of "an outrageous ploy to generate attention and ratings" for his show.

Then on Monday, Clark responded publicly, via a letter released to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In the letter, which you can read here, Clark’s attorney, Al Watkins, goes on a long rant about the difference between the names “Albert” and “Alberto,” spends a couple of lines comparing Viagra and Bengay to PEDs and throws in a Lance Armstrong joke at the end.

But in the meat of Watkins' note on Clark's behalf, he challenges Pujols' lawyer to have Pujols take a polygraph test "to ascertain whether he is being deceptive when he asserts that he has never used steroids or performance enhancing drugs while in the minor and major leagues."

In return, Watkins states that Clark would take a similar test "to ascertain whether he is being deceptive when he asserts that your client's trainer, Mr. Mihlfeld, told him that your client 'juiced.'"

If Clark is found to be lying, the letter states, Clark will issue a public statement retracting his statements regarding Pujols' alleged PED use, and if Pujols is found to be lying, it says, the lawsuit would be dismissed.

Of course, we know it'll never come to that. The results of a polygraph test wouldn't hold up in a courtroom, and there's no way Pujols is taking one anyway. The letter is just a PR stunt on the part of Clark's legal team to curry favor from the general public. But it's interesting to see that Clark isn't taking things lying down, and if nothing else, we now know his attorney will keep the legal battle entertaining.

Per Watkins' letter, Pujols has 10 days to respond before the offer is withdrawn. We won't hold our breath.

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball