Ryan Braun - Disputed Testosterone Test

Disputed Testosterone Test

On December 10, 2011, a confidential urine test conducted in October 2011 was leaked to ESPN's Outside the Lines. They reported that Braun had tested positive for an elevated level of testosterone caused by a performance-enhancing drug and faced a 50-game suspension. The Daily News quoted a source who said that the test results were "insanely high, the highest ever for anyone who has ever taken a test, twice the level of the highest test ever taken". A second test conducted by an independent laboratory showed normal testosterone levels. Braun successfully appealled the drug test in January 2012, the first time that a MLB player had successfully challenged a drug test result. In a 2-to-1 vote, the arbitration panel, consisting of MLB representative Rob Manfred, players' union lawyer Michael Weiner, and Shyam Das, decided that valid questions had been raised about the manner in which the test sample had been handled.

The New York Times wrote that Braun "won on a technicality". Braun's sample was collected and sealed on a Saturday. The collector said that no FedEx delivery center was open, and he subsequently followed established protocol and stored the samples in his home refrigerator; he dropped the samples off to an open FedEx center on Monday. Braun, though, said there were at least five FedEx locations within 5 miles that were open until 9 p.m. and there also was a 24-hour location. MLB argued that there was no evidence of tampering of the sample, and the United States Anti-Doping Agency said the testosterone levels in the samples would not grow in a refrigerator over a weekend. MLB's drug-testing program states that the samples should be sent to the laboratory on the same day they are collected "absent unusual circumstance".