The father at the center of a viral ball-snatching scandal at a Major League Baseball game has asked fans to stop harassing the thief in question.
“Please don’t do anything to that lady,’’ Drew Feltwell told USA Today Sports on Monday, September 8. “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.’’
Feltwell said hordes of people have volunteered to track down the woman, nicknamed “Phillies Karen,” who stole the ball from his young son, Lincoln.
The identity of the woman is still unknown, but Feltwell said the ridicule she’s endured on social media has already been enough.
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“I could say something like she got what she deserved, but I don’t know if she deserved that much,” he added.
The incident went down on Friday, September 5, during a game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Miami.
After the Phillies’ Harrison Bader hit a home run into the left field stands, Feltwell rushed over to retrieve the ball and gave it to his son.
Phillies Karen, who had also attempted to snag the home run ball, then rushed over to Feltwell and demanded he give her the souvenir. Feltwell, who was clearly caught off guard by the woman’s anger, obliged and handed over the ball.
“She just kept yelling and yelling and yelling and you know, I would’ve loved to turn my back or [push] her away or something like that but, you know, there’s a lot of eyes on me,” Feltwell told CBS News on Monday. “So I just decided to make it end and give her the ball and be happy that she goes away and get it over with.”
Speculation about the identity of Phillies Karen has become so intense on social media that a New Jersey school district was forced to issue a statement.
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“The woman identified on social media as ‘Phillies Karen’ is not and has never been an employee of Hammonton Public Schools,” Hammonton Public Schools said via Facebook on Saturday, September 6.
The statement continued, “Anyone who works for our school district, attended as a student or lives in our community would obviously have caught the ball barehanded in the first place.”
After the clip went viral before the game between the Phillies and Marlins could even end on Friday, the Phillies invited the Feltwell family down near the locker room, where Lincoln was given a signed bat by Bader.
