A father who found himself at the center of a viral home run ball dispute says he’s “still in disbelief” after what was supposed to be a special father-son moment at a Phillies game turned into a nationwide backlash.
Drew Feltwell, who grew up in New Jersey but now lives in Florida, raced over to grab a home run ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader at Friday’s game hosted by the Miami Marlins. But after he gave the ball to his son, Lincoln, an irate woman dubbed “Phillies Karen” stormed over and demanded he give it to her. Eventually, Feltwell gave in and handed the ball to the woman. This sparked outrage online and led to a campaign to dox and shame her for her actions.
A Phillies fan retrieves a home run ball for his son and this woman is furious she did not get the ball pic.twitter.com/kDMMJrw2R5
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 6, 2025
The Feltwell family has been treated to many gifts in the wake of the baseball controversy, including a meeting with Bader, who gave Lincoln a signed baseball bat. A rep from the Marlins also gave Lincoln a bag of merchandise, and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis wrote on X that he’d be buying the family World Series tickets and an RV.
Going home with a signed bat from Bader pic.twitter.com/pCaXHSjLgL
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 6, 2025
Feltwell told NBC10 Philadelphia that they were celebrating Lincoln’s 10th birthday. “We’re just trying to make this week about him,” he said. “I felt like super dad putting that ball in his glove and giving him a hug.”
The father said the woman began screaming at him, saying, “That’s my ball!”
“Still in disbelief that she walked down there like that,” he told the outlet. “Just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son, I guess.”
He said he later apologized to Lincoln about his decision to hand over the baseball.
“I wish I had the ball for my son to put in his room next to the bat, but if I had the ball, I probably wouldn’t have gotten the bat, so it worked out fine,” Feltwell added, saying the woman was booed out of the stadium shortly after the confrontation took place.
“I hope that ball means a lot to her,” he said.
There’s been some back and forth online over how the situation was handled, who was in the right, and whether the backlash went too far. Several people were misidentified as the woman who demanded the baseball.
A woman named Cheryl Richardson-Wagner insists she wasn’t Phillies Karen. “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) …. And I’m a Red Sox fan,” she shared on Facebook.
After one rumor took hold that the Phillies fan was a Hammonton School District employee, the district also issued a statement.
“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,” the district said. “Anyone who works for our school district, attended as a student or lives in our community would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation!”
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