What Was the Mysterious Brown Substance on Sal Perez's Shin Guards During Game 1 of the World Series?

Salvador Perez was seen touching a brown substance on his shin guards during Game 1 of the World Series. Crazy, right? FOX caught Perez touching a brown spot on his leg guards and Twitter took notice. And The New York Post took notice of people who took notice on Twitter – including Curt Schilling.

Well, I’m sold. If there’s anyone who knows about stained clothing on the lower half of a player’s body during the World Series, it’s the guy employed by ESPN who spends his days posting Marine Todd memes on Facebook. Now that we’ve got our smoking gun, let’s take a closer look at the mystery substance on Perez’s leg protection. Here’s Perez on the mound talking with pitcher Edinson Volquez.

ENHANCE!

Look at that. That is definitely a brown substance on his shin guard in the exact spot where Perez was seen touching something brown on his shin guard! This is pretty damning.

Of course, if we zoom back out, we notice that there is a brown substance on other parts of Perez’s shin guards. Some might call it “dirt” or “mud.”  Now that I think about it, didn’t it rain last night at The K?

In theory, Perez could have been a wiping a foreign substance off his hands and onto the shin guards – and not the other way around. But why would he do that? So he could grip and throw baseballs as he often is required to during the course of a baseball game? Nah. That can’t be it. Hopefully, someone can get to the bottom of the brown stuff on Sal Perez’s leg.

But wait! If Salvador Perez was covered in “mud” wouldn’t Mets’ catcher Travis d’Arnaud also be dirty?

Hmm… d’Arnaud’s legs are kind of dirty, but unfortunately, his pads are a different shape as well as a different color that doesn’t show as much dirt. I’m starting to wonder if this was nefarious cheating!

Holy crap! One Ben Zobrist had a mysterious brown substance on the bottom of his cleats! This settles it. The Royals are dirty.

[Getty, USA TODAY Sports Images]