Brewers’ Ryan Braun: ‘My name has been dragged through the mud’

Ryan Braun held a news conference Friday, with his Milwaukee Brewers teammates in attendance, to discuss his positive drug test in October.

After the test results were revealed, he was dealt a 50-game suspension. He took his appeal to an arbitration panel in January and it was sustained Thursday, overruling the suspension.

“My name has been dragged through the mud,” said Braun, the reigning National League MVP.

“I’ve lived this nightmare every day for the last four months,” he said in Phoenix. “At the end of the day, the truth prevailed. I’m the victim of a process that completely broke down.”

Braun tested positive for elevated testosterone, which, he says, “I would bet my life the substance never entered my body at any point.”

He said that the testing was “fatally flawed” because the urine sample he provided on Oct. 1 was not delivered to Federal Express until Oct. 3 even though MLB’s drug agreement mandates that samples must be delivered to FedEx the day they are collected.

Braun added that the level of testosterone found in his urine sample was at a ratio that was the highest ever recorded in baseball’s testing program.

“I honestly don’t know what happened to it in that 44-hour period,” he said.

“It’s been unjust and unfair.”

Braun hit .332 with 33 home runs, 111 RBI and 33 steals for the Brewers last season.

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