Ryan Braun Tests Positive for PEDs: Ranking MLB's 12 Worst "Rock Bottom" Moments

Wow, so Ryan Braun might be brawnier than we think. It’s old news by now, but your 2011 NL MVP winner recently tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, according to reports.

Naturally, Braun discounted the charge and is appealing his impending 50-game suspension from the MLB. Time will tell, but does this type of thing ever turn out well for the player? All the good excuses were wasted by swollen-headed, jacked up sluggers from a decade ago.

But after so much hoopla over steroids and HGH and whatever other crazy substances ballplayers were putting into their bodies in the 1990s and early 2000s, we thought we were finally done with this mess. Manny Ramirez got busted last year, but nobody liked him anyway.

Now, America’s most anonymous sweetheart slipped on the needle, and this pill is a lot harder to swallow (pun intended). And it doesn’t help that the positive test results came so soon after he was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player.

This has to be up there on the list of worst baseball moments, as the doe-eyed star child surely ripped out the hearts of thousands of young women across the state of Wisconsin. Braun’s unfortunate news story got us thinking; what are the absolute worst, most devastating “rock bottom” moments in MLB history? Well, here’s our take at the 12 worst.

Hmm, 12. Like the number of MVP voters who didn’t place Braun first on their ballots. The guys and gals who knew Matt Kemp was the real king, regardless of alleged PED use. But I digress—grab a box of tissues for this one, it’s going to be a wet ride.

12. 10 Cent Beer Night

A fail of epic proportions. In 1974, the Rangers and Indians played a game in Cleveland and attracted thousands of fans to a game in which ten cents would get said fan an eight-ounce beer. Anyone who has ever gone to Taco Tuesday at their local bar in college knows how dangerous ten-cent beers get.

Except as far as I know, there were no people with my name and striking resemblance wobbly singing Whitney Houston karaoke in front of everyone. Uh…never mind. That never happened.

But you can do the math; a normal beer can is 12 ounces, so for a dollar you’re getting nearly seven full beers. Realistically, a fan could have rummaged through couch cushions for change before the game and come out with enough to do some damage.

Needless to say, things got wild. In the ninth inning of a tie game, a fan ran onto the field and tried to steal the hat of Texas outfielder Jeff Burroughs. As you can guess, the rest of the riot included hundreds of fans, players of both teams, lots of punches, and some other hard objects.

This was definitely a black eye on the face of Major League Baseball. And such an unrestricted promotion has (wisely) never been had since.

11. All-Star Game Tie

What’s that old saying of baseball lore? There are no ties in baseball. Under any circumstance. EVER. Apparently Bud Selig missed that memo.

The 2002 All-Star Game ended in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings because the commissioner, owners and coaches didn’t want their precious wittle pitchers to get tired. Well, if a tie is akin to kissing your sister, this was a full make-out and grope.

You would think the powers that be would have taken the possibility of an extra-inning All-Star game into account. It’s not that uncommon. This was a rock bottom moment more for the integrity and history of the game than anything else.

But still, as a middle schooler, I remember being outraged at the fact that they wouldn’t continue to play. If only it was still acceptable to actually try in the All-Star game. This is without a doubt my own personal MLB rock bottom moment.

10. Tearing Down Yankee Stadium

The House That Ruth Built. The House That George Destroyed. I’m extremely thankful that I was able to make a trip to the East Coast in 2005 and catch a game at Yankee Stadium before Steinbrenner did the most unthinkable, blasphemous thing in recent baseball history.

There are certain sports venues that should never be torn down. On that short list are Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Madison Square Garden, Wembley Stadium, Wimbledon and Yankee Stadium. OOPS.

I’m actually surprised that this didn’t get as much negative fanfare as it should. Sure, the new stadium is absolutely gorgeous and very similar to the old one, but it’s just not the same.

Remember when your first goldfish died and your parents said don’t worry, we’ll just get you another one? Well, you got used to the new guy, but it never had the same feeling to it as good ol’ Goldie.

I for one, won’t ever forgive the Yanks for demolishing such a regal palace. Nobody will ever again sit in the seat that a Babe Ruth home run ball landed in. Or the section that fielded Roger Maris’ 61^st homer. The mound that Don Larsen pitched a World Series perfect game on is gone forever.

It was easy enough to hate the Yankees out of pure jealousy before 2009. Now I just hate them for ruining the most successful sports franchise in the world’s native habitat. 

9. Pittsburgh Drug Trials

So, you think steroids are bad for a ball player’s body? How about cocaine? In 1985, multiple members of the Pittsburgh Pirates team went in front of a jury and testified about buying and using cocaine during games.

Ultimately, seven players were given a full-season suspension after their runs in court. Some prominent names graced the list, such as Dave Parker and Keith Hernandez.

Tim Raines admitted that he kept a small vile of coke in his back pocket during games and even snorted between innings, justifying why he always slid headfirst. God forbid he break a vile of extremely illegal substances.

This one is almost a self-explanatory black mark in the history of MLB. Some people cheat using pills to beef up or stay healthy all season. Some people cork bats or steal signs. But there is no significant advantage snorting cocaine could give players.

And to do so on the sacred ground of an actual field during an actual game is not only illegal, but straight up ignorant.

8. Ryan Braun

UPDATE: Braun may be legit after all. Hallelujah!

The reason this situation is so terrible for baseball is Braun was never part of the late-90s/early 2000s group of players who really got the steroid era rolling. We thought we were done. Unless proven innocent, we were very much wrong.

Sure, Manny Ramirez was a big name busted after the dust had settled, but he also played in the steroid era. Braun broke into the bigs in 2007, when steroids were long gone and near impenetrable testing was in place. Or so we thought.

Braun has always been one of those good guys. One of those incredible players who put up huge numbers every year, seemed to be a lovable guy and just seemed to be an all-around stand-up guy.

He’s in that group of players who are just below Ken Griffey, Jr., Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter in the realm of guys whose positive tests would ruin baseball for an entire generation.

7. The Steroid Era

How awesome was the big home run chase of 1998? How foolish were we? Humans aren’t made that size. When the news broke and the names started falling like bombs, our hopes and dreams went with them.

I know that sounds dramatic, but how upset were you when the Mitchell Report came out and you saw some of your favorite players' names? Miguel Tejada? Eric Gagne? Mo Vaughn? So sad.

If you didn’t know what it felt like to have your hero ripped away from you before, that was it. The Mitchell Report was proof that all that talent and hard work wasn’t really because of a lifetime of dedication. And here I was, an obsessive baseball fan who thought my favorite players were taking extra rounds in the cage, extra fielding drills, and doing two workouts a day.

It was not so. So was greatness unattainable? It was hard to forgive certain players and baseball as a sport for even casting this shadow of doubt upon the thousands of young boys who wanted to be an All-Star pitcher or a World Series hero.

Luckily we've rebounded for the better. But it still stings.

6. Plane Crashes

Three unbelievably tragic, separate plane crashes have claimed the lives of three separate major league players. Cory Lidle most recently, Thurman Munson before him and the legend Roberto Clemente first. Of course, MLB had no say in this. Faulty equipment, bad luck; those things played a role.

Emotionally, this was as rock-bottom as it could get for MLB. Lidle died in 2006 when a small plane he owned crashed into a residential building in downtown New York. He enjoyed his best season as an Oakland Athletic in 2001 when he posted a 13-6 record and helped the A's to a wild-card berth.

Munson was a fan-favorite in New York and is the only Yankee in their extensive history to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP. In 1979, he was practicing landing his plane, when he clipped a tree on an approach and the plane hit a stump and burst into flames. Munson was the first player named a Yankee captain since Lou Gehrig at the time.

And the most well-known, historic player on this list is the Pittsburgh Pirates' perennial All-Star, Roberto Clemente. He had just finished a season that had him sitting at exactly 3,000 hits and was widely known as Puerto Rico's most popular native athlete. So when a cargo plane he was on carrying supplies to earthquake victims crashed, the tiny island nation commenced in a three-day mourning period.

Baseball lost three amazing athletes and more importantly, three amazing men in these accidents.  

5. 1994 Strike

Such a promising season, just completely flushed down the drain. By far the worst strike-induced season shortage in professional sports history, and the only American sport to ever have its entire postseason cancelled due to a labor strike.

The previous time that a World Series was cancelled was 90 YEARS prior. So many things can happen over the course of a season, and the 1994 one was just kaput.

The Montreal Expos, of all teams, were on pace to make a legit World Series run. Matt Williams was strongly challenging the single-season home run record. The A.L. West might have had all four teams finish under .500. And the other five divisions were heading in the direction of epic, unforgettable finishes.

If anything good came out of the lost season of 1994, it was that we should never, ever have to deal with something that heartbreaking again as fans. Though the NBA tried to make us sweat this winter...

4. Bryan Stow

Ryan Braun wasn’t even close to the saddest news to come out of the 2011 baseball season. Father of two and diehard San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was brutally beaten after a Giants vs. Dodgers game in Los Angeles on Opening Day.

One of the most ferocious rivalries in sports history got really messy after the first game this season when Stow was beaten to near death and into a coma by two Dodger fans in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium.

On the field, sometimes teams will get heated. Someone might get buzzed by a fastball, or maybe a runner will slide in harder than usual to second base. But when a venue and a sport can't control its fans—the very people the game is in place to please—to the point where someone's life is in danger...that's rock bottom.

3. Ray Chapman

Ray Chapman was a shortstop for Cleveland in 1920, and one of the better players in the league. Certainly one of the best players for his team. In August of that season, he was hit in the head by a pitch from Yankee pitcher Carl Mays. 

While there are conflicting reports, the basis of the event is that Chapman was hit, bled from his left ear and began to stumble, before being helped to the hospital. Twelve hours after the beaning, Chapman was pronounced dead at a New York hospital.

Chapman became the second and final player in MLB history to die from an on-field injury. The reason for this being a rock bottom moment speaks for itself. But even more troubling, the only change in the game this tragedy forced was outlawing the spitball. 

Batting helmets, though strongly pushed for after Chapman's death, weren't even adopted until 30 years later.

2. Pete Rose

The all-time hit king was hitting a lot more than baseballs during his time. He was hitting the jackpot when breaking the cardinal sin of baseball; betting on the game. And he didn't wait until he was out of the sport to do so.

As a manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Rose admitted to betting on baseball. But he also vehemently claims he never bet against his own team. That little bit of good grace doesn't excuse the fact that he committed the most immoral baseball act of all time.

It's always a little tougher to swallow when the guy hitting rock bottom in this situation is one of the best players to ever lace up his spikes. Charlie Hustle got his name for a reason—a player of his intensity level and love for winning hasn't been seen since he retired and might never be seen again.

Sadly, his mistakes will probably keep him out of the Hall of Fame forever.

1. 1919 Black Sox

Okay, I lied. There is one thing worse than a manager betting on baseball. How about an entire team purposely losing the World Series?

There are two teams that earn the right to play for the ring every year, and some dedicate their entire lives to training, playing and sweating toward that goal and never make it. So the fact that these eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team took that for granted and slapped the sport of baseball in the face is absolutely unforgivable. 

Luckily for the integrity of the sport, all eight members involved in the scandal were banned from baseball for life. 

By far the most famous of those banned, Shoeless Joe Jackson, actually has a historically disputed role in the scandal. But if throwing the most holy competition in all of baseball and getting kicked out of the sport forever isn't rock bottom, I don't know what is.