In the Cambridge Companion to Baseball it suggests that the public wants to view the baseball players as wholesome "All-American" "Boy Scouts". But in reality that is not particularly possible.
With the announcement of the Ryan Braun drug test being thrown out it's hard to see any baseball players as "All-American". Before all of this happened Braun was one of the players that fans looked up to for winning the right way, having success the clean way. That's not the case now as details are being revealed on how the drug test was dismissed. It wasn't for the urine to be free of steroids, it was for a "mishandled collection process" of submitting the sample to the testers. It's hard to trust any player now that may post similar numbers in the future and that's unfair to the players who are actually clean and play the right way.
ESPN's Buster Olney talked to dozen's of players about the subject and pretty much all of them disagree with the decision that was made. Furthermore, they are mad at how the appeal challenged the process of submission and not the actual substance of the drug test. His appeal spits in the face of the process and basically screams "GUILTY" but you submitted it wrong so I get off scott free. It throws off the whole balance of the testing for steroids and the players sincerely want the process to be effective in punishing the guys who cheat to get ahead.
It's a shame that this has to be a subject of conversation but it has to be discussed. The players don't like it, the managers don't like it and the commissioner especially doesn't like it because it holds a cloud over the sport. One of the worst parts about this whole thing was that Braun was recently crown NL MVP! If anybody else has his numbers in the future, it's going to be in the back of the fans' mind that the player is possibly on steroids. That's not fair but it will be the truth.
All that can happen now is that the MLB change the ruling in order to avoid this fiasco down the road. Like it or not, Braun got let off the hook on a technicality but it's just like a crime case being thrown out because of an improper warrant, it's the rules.
In my opinion, baseball took a huge black eye for this just like the justice system does when a case is thrown out due to a technicality. Commissioner Bud Selig is furious with the ruling because it makes the sport of baseball look bad and the drug testing system vulnerable to successful appeals based on technicalities. Baseball was just moving past the Barry Bonds era and the steroid issue looked to be shrinking but now it's thrown right back into the forefront.
