It's settled: Albert Pujols is not a juicer and Jack Clark no longer is being sued.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday that Pujols, the three-time NL MVP, has agreed to drop his defamation lawsuit against Clark, the former four-time NL All-Star-turned radio talk show host in exchange for a public retraction, which Clark issued Monday.
"I would like to address Albert Pujols' pending defamation lawsuit and reconfirm that I have no knowledge whatsoever that Mr. Pujols has ever used illegal or banned PEDs," Clark said in a statement he released and was provided to the Post-Dispatch.
"I publicly retract my statements that Albert Pujols used such substances. During a heated discussion on air, I misspoke, and for that I sincerely apologize."
Clark, who played three of his 18 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, asserted the Pujols "was a juicer" - an expression used for players using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs - in August of a St. Louis radio talk show, "The King and the Ripper" on station WGNU 920-AM.
During the broadcast, Clarks said he knew of a trainer that provided PEDs to Pujols, who spent 11 years with the Cardinals before signing with the Los Angeles Angels after the 2011 season.
A day later, InsideSTL, the company that put on the "King and the Ripper" show, pulled it from the air waves after only seven episodes. Two days after that, Pujols threatened to sue Clark and the radio station.
The company issued a long apology.
In October, Pujols sued Clark in St. Louis County over the comments. Pujols' suit described Clark's comments as "malicious, reckless and outrageous falsehoods."
Monday, Pujols issued a statement in response to Clark's retraction: "I have accepted Jack Clark's retraction and apology to resolve my lawsuit against him and clear my name."
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