During a recent game, a father became involved in a heated exchange with a passionate Phillies fan who was aggressively seeking a home run ball.
“Please don’t harm that woman,” Drew Feltwell stated. He expressed his feelings, saying, “I told USA Today that I wanted to avoid escalating the situation. No one should be facing that kind of reaction. It’s really unfortunate what the internet has done to her already.”
The woman in question has drawn backlash ever since she was seen demanding a home run ball from Harrison Bader during a game in Miami. Drew Feltwell, momentarily caught off guard, reminded her of what was unfolding around her.
Feltwell initially handed the ball to his son, Lincoln, before deciding to give it to the woman to defuse the situation. “I just wanted her to go away,” he told NBC10 Philadelphia afterward.
Public reaction has not been kind. Social media users expressed their frustration, branding her “Philly’s Karen” for her behavior, especially after she seemed to have asserted entitlement over a ball that landed in a nearly empty area.
Reflecting on the incident, Feltwell commented, “I mean, sure, part of me thinks she got what was coming to her, but then again, maybe it’s not fair to say she deserved all of that.”
There was some confusion about the woman’s identity; many mistakenly called her Cheryl Richardson Wagner. She later took to Facebook to clarify, humorously noting her admiration for the thinness of the woman and pointing out her own allegiance to the Red Sox.
In a gesture of goodwill, the Marlins apologized to Lincoln and offered him and his sister a gift package related to baseball.
After the game, Lincoln had a chance to meet Bader, who generously signed a bat for him. Additionally, a trading card retailer offered the woman a sum of $5,000 for the ball, contingent on her signing it while expressing an apology.
