#8 – Ryan Braun
Melky Cabrera made a fake website to try to escape his PED scandal, but Milwaukee Brewers outfield Ryan Braun did something much worse, and it has earned him the ire of baseball fans worldwide.
When the Biogenesis PED debacle rocked the baseball world, Braun was revealed to have used PEDs during his 2011 MVP season. That would have been big news, except Braun had already tested positive following that season, appealed his case, and won – on a technicality.
Braun had argued that the collector of his sample had not followed proper protocol and could have tampered with the specimen before submitting it. He semi-privately accused the collector, Dino Lorenzi Jr., of being a Cubs fan out to hurt the Brewers, and more significantly, of being anti-Semitic (Braun is Jewish). Legal action against Lorenzi was threatened.
Later, in a official statement regarding his successful appeal, Braun said:
"This is my livelihood, this is my integrity, this is my character, this is everything that I’ve worked for in my life being called into question – we need to make sure that we get it right."
That sounds like a situation in which Braun is the victim, but the reality was that it was someone else’s livelihood, integrity and character being impugned. Braun had knowingly used PEDs the entire time. He had no hope of testing negative, but in a perfect storm of events, he had the opportunity to make Lorenzi the fall guy for his positive test.
So, to sum up: Braun cheated, lied, lied some more – and then had the nerve to create a cover-up story in which he claimed he’d simply consulted with the Biogenesis doctor about his appeal. After that fell through, he finally admitted to having knowingly taken PEDs in 2011.
If his ability to throw an innocent bystander under the bus hasn’t made your skin crawl enough, here’s another excerpt from that same statement:
"“If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally, I’d be the first one to step up and say, ‘I did it.’ By no means am I perfect, but if I’ve ever made any mistakes in my life I’ve taken responsibility for my actions. I truly believe in my heart, and I would bet my life, that this substance never entered my body at any point. “I’ve always had tremendous respect for the game of baseball, and part of the reason that I’ve kept quiet throughout the course of this ordeal, and part of the reason why I won’t be able to get into all the details today, is to put the best interests of the game ahead of the best interests of myself. And that hasn’t been easy.”"
Ugh. No wonder Ryan Braun gets booed everywhere he goes.
Next: The Dangerous Player