Father Who Relented on Home Run Ball Urges Online Sleuths to Leave Fan Alone
Drew Feltwell, whose son was handed the ball, says the woman who demanded the souvenir has already faced enough online backlash after a heated exchange at a Phillies-Marlins game.
A Pennsylvania father whose son initially received a home run ball surrendered the souvenir to a woman who loudly demanded it during the Philadelphia Phillies' Sept. 5 visit to Miami and is now asking people to stop trying to identify and harass her online.
Drew Feltwell told USA Today on Tuesday that he does not want anyone "breaking in their house and stuff like that" and urged people to leave the woman alone after sleuths circulated her image and social-media users ridiculed her for the confrontation. Feltwell said he gave the ball to his son, Lincoln, but relented and handed it to the woman to deescalate the situation after she screamed in his face. "I pretty much just wanted her to go away," he told NBC10 Philadelphia.
Video of the incident captured the woman berating Feltwell and then walking away with the ball; she was also recorded making an obscene gesture toward nearby fans who criticized her in the moment for asserting entitlement to a ball that landed near mostly empty seats. The footage was widely shared on social platforms, where users dubbed her the "Phillies Karen." Critics and amateur investigators attempted to identify her, and at least one woman, Cheryl Richardson-Wagner, publicly denied being the person in the clip.
"Ok everyone," Richardson-Wagner wrote on Facebook. "I’m NOT the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast)… and I’m a Red Sox fan!" Several outlets and social-media accounts circulated the misidentification before that correction was posted.
The Marlins organization later apologized to Lincoln Feltwell and provided the boy and his sister with a gift package that included baseballs. Former Major League outfielder Harrison Bader, whose home run produced the souvenir, later met Lincoln after the game and presented him with a signed bat, the Phillies said on X.
A trading-card retailer, Blowout Cards, offered the woman $5,000 for the ball under the condition that she sign it and write "I'm sorry," so the company could in turn give it to Lincoln. The offer was posted publicly and noted the company’s intent to return the ball to the child with an apology attached.
Feltwell said he understood why people were upset by how the woman behaved but emphasized that public shaming and doxxing could cause real harm. "Please don’t do anything to that lady," he told USA Today. "Leave it alone. You know, somebody knows her and can talk to her, that’s different. But God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good."
The incident adds to a series of fan confrontations at sporting events that have prompted discussion about etiquette, entitlement and the boundaries of acceptable behavior in stadiums. Teams have increasingly been monitoring confrontations and releasing statements when incidents draw significant public attention; in this case, the Marlins' apology and the gestures from Bader and retailers aimed to mitigate the impact on the child involved.
Authorities did not report any criminal investigation tied to the exchange, and neither the woman seen in the video nor representatives for her had publicly commented as of Wednesday. Feltwell said his primary concern was for his family’s well-being and that he hoped the online focus would shift away from identifying or harassing the woman and toward the more charitable gestures made on the child’s behalf.