Solving The Mystery Of The Umpire-Wielded Metal Detector In Colorado

Earlier in the evening we were tipped off to a strange occurrence in the Rockies-Cardinals game at Coors. Reader D.H.—a helpful, if ornery (and tired) sort—alerted us to a developing situation involving the home plate umpire, a missing item and a metal detector.

Cards-Rockies, top of the 7th, Cardinal broadcast picks up home plate ump asking for a metal detector, then cameras show him throughout the inning look down at the dirt for something between pitches. Announcers speculate it must be a wedding ring, then confirm that he is married as the inning ends. Developing story, I guess. Watch it on MLB.TV and let me know how it ends, I'm going to bed because Mountain time zone sucks

We quickly snapped into action to acquire video and investigate. Three minutes later, we received another tip from D.H. under the subject "Umpire finds something (update!)"

Bottom of the 7th starts, umpire finds a shiny object and takes it to the batboy, who hands it to Mike Matheny, who then hands it off to a trainer. No idea what it is or whose it is, but apparently a Cardinal had been looking for it.Another mystery: the announcer asked if they could bring him the metal detector (if it exists) later because he lost soemthing, but he'd rather not say what it is.Let me know how it goes, I'm going to bed

This is the video we have above. It is flabbergasting. Why is the batboy's belt undone? How could Yadier Molina, seemingly by accident, find what a metal detector could not? Was it not metal? Why use a metal detector? Why did the Cards color guy think it was an ancient artifact? So many questions.

But then, a half hour later, a break (from D.H.):

UPDATE: some moron in my apartment complex just got his freaking car horn stuck and I can't sleep. I watched the Rockies feed and it turns out Yadier Molina got hit with a foul tip and it knocked a screw loose off his mask. The ump found it while he was actively catching, hence the trainer holding onto the former without giving it to its owner.

Yadier Molina has a screw loose, mystery solved. Bonus, D.H. gets to watch some extra baseball, and maybe a Cardinals comeback. Five minutes later:

UPDATE: the stupid SOB never came out to turn the blasted thing off but it seems the horn has finally bled out on its own. The Cardinals tied it in the 8th though so I might as well finish the game at this point. Y'all have a good night, I'll keep you updated if anything else comes of this

See, we're all winners here. Our final communique:

OK, the Rockies are back up a run in the 8th, so I'm going to bed. If anything else happens with the missing catcher's mitt screw you guys are on your own

Deadspin at your service.

h/t D.H.