Did Ryan Braun accuse sample collector of being an anti-Semite?

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- When Brewers slugger Ryan Braun initially denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, he raised questions about Dino Laurenzi Jr., the man who collected the sample that tested positive. Now, there are reports that in the Spring of 2012, Braun called several players around Major League Baseball and told them that Laurenzi is an anti-Semite.

In February of 2012, during a press conference at Spring Training in Arizona, Ryan Braun denied taking performance-enhancing drugs, and questioned the handling of a sample that ultimately tested positive.

Braun ultimately won his appeal, and did not have to serve a 50-game suspension for testing positive for elevated testosterone. The decision in favor of Braun was significant because it was the first time baseball player successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance.

Since then, the face of the Brewers has accepted a 65-game suspension for his association with Biogenesis, a Miami clinic that Major League Baseball says supplied PEDs to several players, including Braun.

Both ESPN and Yahoo Sports are now reporting that around the time of Braun's now-infamous Spring Training speech, he was reaching out to other players, telling them he'd learned the test collector, Dino Laurenzi was a Cubs fan and anti-Semite.

"I can't say what happened with Ryan Braun, what he did and who the tester is and what the nature is, I can't say anything about that. But I can say that if the term has been used as a ploy, or as some people say, like a race card, a religion card, that of course is unacceptable," Elana Kahn-Oren with the Milwaukee Jewish Federation said.

Kahn-Oren says the Milwaukee Jewish Federation is dismayed to see anti-Semitic remarks directed toward Braun on social media.

"I think it shows how hate is just below the surface sometimes," Kahn-Oren said.

Kahn-Oren says if Braun really told others that Laurenzi is an anti-Semite, then he better have proof.

"We need to be mindful about who we call an anti-Semite and what we call anti-Semitism or as you said, we risk undermining the real anti-Semitism that there is," Kahn-Oren said.

The Yahoo Sports report names Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki as one of the players Braun called in February of 2012.

According to the Denver Post, Tulowitzki told reporters he had a conversation with Braun, but the test collector never came up.

Another player named is Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who told Cincinnati reporters he did not have a conversation with Braun, and they only exchanged texts after Braun won the 2011 MVP award and when he accepted the 65-games suspension in July.