Today was not a good day for Baseball. Not only did some twitter rumors start about new PED suspensions coming down (as expected), but there were some major players involved for the first time in a long time. Although Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun had largely been suspected, they had not yet received suspensions. Robinson Cano, one of the league’s premiere infielders, and a Yankees player with a big baseball following, also got the hammer dropped, which caught me by surprise. These guys are all valuable signatures, but there is now a question of whether or not they will continue to have collector support.

Here are some recent sales and maybe its not as bad as we thought:

2005 Bowman Chrome Ryan Braun RC Auto

2005 Bowman Sterling Ryan Braun Auto RC BGS 9.5

2010 Triple Threads Robinson Cano Bat Auto /9

2003 Upper Deck Alex Rodriguez Jersey Auto PSA 10

In the case of Rodriguez, his cards have already taken a major hit. Braun has seen some backlash as well, but this could be the last nail in the coffin. Cano may see a bounce back if he can return and stay clean, but its unlikely his cards will ever reach full potential now. Because baseball is all driven by the history of the game, and potential to create more history along the way. We have come to find out there will be punishment for users in hall of fame voting, and that is not a good thing for card values.

Its interesting, because guys from that era still have some value, but its all relative to how much suspicion is around them. A great example is Mike Piazza. who has suspicion, but no proof, which hasnt dipped his card value much over the years. Mark McGwire is still a valuable player too, even though he admitted to use of HGH and other PEDs that were not illegal when he played. He has rabid player collectors that still drive his values higher than I expected.

Ill admit, I always thought Ryan Braun would end up as a guy that could end up in the Hall of Fame when all was said and done. Now that he has been caught twice and punished once, I doubt it will happen. In fact, its likely that he might not have a season like he had previously without roids on his side. As steroid use is filtered through the process, it might become more accepted among collectors who just dont care what happened. We saw that with Bonds, who’s cards continue to carry value even though he is probably the worst PED poster boy in history.

Im not someone that collected guys other than the Twins, but if one of them that I collected ever was caught, its up in the air how I would feel. I guess time will tell how people eventually come to accept usage from this point forward.