Phillie-killer Ryan Braun announces retirement

Ryan Braun, one of the biggest Philadelphia Phillies killers in recent memory, announced his retirement from baseball Tuesday.

The 37-year-old, who last played in 2020, spent his entire 14-year career with the Milwaukee Brewers:

Today, more than 14 years after I first took the field as a Milwaukee Brewer, I’ve decided to retire. While it’s impossible to summarize my emotions, what I feel most is one, simple thing – gratitude.

I just wanted to take a moment to say ‘thank you’.

– Ryan Braun pic.twitter.com/pQxuW9qk1z

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) September 14, 2021

In 79 career games against the Phillies, Braun slashed a staggering .385/.429/.706 with 25 home runs, 73 RBIs and a 1.134 OPS. The six-time All-Star’s most notable performance against the Phillies came on opening day 2014, when he hit three home runs and drove in seven runs, much to the chagrin of fans at Citizens Bank Park:

Braun finishes his career with a .296/.358/.532 slash line with 352 home runs, 1,154 RBIs, an .891 OPS and a 43.9 fWAR. A first-round pick by the Brewers in the 2005 MLB Draft, Braun won the 2007 National League Rookie of the Year Award, and the NL MVP in 2011.

However, Braun’s reputation perhaps never recovered from his positive PED test that came to light in December of 2011. Braun initially won his appeal, vilifying Dino Laurenzi Jr., the man who was responsible for collecting his drug sample. But Braun was eventually suspended for the final 65 games of the 2013 season. Despite reportedly attempting to smear Laurenzi as an anti-semite, the two “made amends,” per Braun, in November of 2013.

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