After the Polish company’s CEO, Piotr Szczerek, made headlines for snatching a signed merchandise from a young boy at US Open, something similar happened at the baseball match between the Philadelphia Phillies vs the Miami Marlins. When Harrison Bader hit a home run, the ball flew into the stands, and a man grabbed it. He then walked up to his son and gave him the ball. Soon after, a woman approached them, saying that the ball belonged to her. She added that he took it from her.
To avoid creating a scene, the man took the ball from his son and handed it to the woman wearing a Phillies jersey. He has now finally spoken out about the incident, explaining what happened and what he did and why he did.
‘Touched my arm, screamed in my ear’
Drew Feltwell said that after he handed the ball to his son, Lincoln, someone touched his arm, screamed in his ear and demanded the ball.
“I was already ecstatic, like got Bader’s home run ball, and I get to put it in my son’s glove, and that was, it was already enough,” Feltwell told NBC News in an interview.
He added, “You know, and then, then here she comes. Something touched my arm, and then she just screamed in my ear, ‘That’s my ball,’ like, so loud.”
Since all eyes were on them and he wanted to show his son how to de-escalate a situation, he plucked the ball out of his son’s mitt and gave it to the woman.
“There was kind of a fork in the road, like, I’m gonna go one direction and then probably regret. Or go this direction and do something in front of my kids that, you know, like a teaching moment,” he further expressed.
‘Going home with a signed bat’
Later on, Bader signed the bat for him.
“Going home with a signed bat from Bader,” read the caption of the post shared on X (formerly Twitter).
The Philadelphia Phillies shared the images of Harrison Bader signing a bat for the kid, while another shows the kid with the bat.
NBC reported that Feltwell didn’t expect the woman to apologise, adding that even if she returned the ball, she would hastily walk away. “And that would still be hard for her to do.”
Who is Phillies Karen?
Many Internet users believed that the viral woman they named “Phillies Karen” is one person, Cheryl Richardson-Wagner. However, the woman himself has denied through a social media post.
“OK everyone… I’m NOT the crazy Philly Mom (but I sure would love to be as thin as she is and move as fast,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Others claimed that the woman is actually Leslie-Ann Kravitz and works at Hammonton Public School District in New Jersey. They also alleged that she was fired after the incident. However, the school issued a statement, saying that the viral woman was never a part of the school.
“The woman identified on social media as ‘Phillies Karen’ is not, and has never been an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools located in Hammonton, New Jersey. Social media and news reports indicating that she is, are incorrect.”
As of now, there have only been claims about the woman, and she has not been ID’d yet.