The Phillies can’t hold on to their rings

This article has a little bit of everything:

A masked fan ejected from a Phillies playoff game is charged with stealing three World Series rings from a ballpark office. The Phillies have now had four such rings stolen since winning the title last year. Police say 22-year-old Matthew Mervine of Berlin, N.J., was videotaped taking the rings Thursday. They say he had also left his contact information on a job application.

The purloined rings are cheaper models of the $11,000 rings given to players. They are worth about $1,100 and intended for scouts.

Among its delights:

(1) confusion: is the penalty for stealing jewelry in Philly ejection from the ballpark? I’m assuming he was arrested, right? If so, is it really necessary to note that he was ejected too? If he was ejected and only later arrested, why was he ejected? I’m worried that there is some high comedy we’re missing here;

(2) courtesy: it was very nice of the criminal to leave all of his personal information prior to committing the theft;

(3) Pfun Pfilly Pfacts: Scouts get cheaper rings. This isn’t necessarily surprising, but I never really thought about it before. I wonder what the cutoff is. Does the bullpen coach get full-blown bling? Trainer?

UPDATE: More info from another story:

Apparently, Mervine, who wore a rubber skull mask to yesterday’s game against the Rockies, found his way to the Phillies offices after being kicked out of the game with other fans who were being too boisterous, police said. He’d been wearing a skull mask and calling himself “Rockie Killer.”

In the office, he put his mask and rally towel down on a desk, but after picking them up, he also picked up the envelope with the rings, police said. He was arrested at his home at 24 Coleman Rd. in Berlin, and all three rings were recovered.

Someone on the Citizens Bank Park security staff should probably brush up on the concept of “kicking someone out of the game.”