It happened on a Friday night in September 2025. What was supposed to be a core memory for a 9-year-old boy named Lincoln turned into a PR nightmare for a woman the internet quickly dubbed the Phillies Karen.
Honestly, if you follow baseball, you've probably seen the clip. It has everything: a home run, a scrambling crowd, a celebratory hug, and then... the confrontation. Harrison Bader, the Phillies center fielder, launched a solo shot into the left-field stands at loanDepot Park in Miami.
The Moment the Internet Lost Its Mind
Andrew Feltwell, a diehard Phillies fan who lives in West Palm Beach, was at the game with his son, Lincoln, to celebrate the boy's 10th birthday. When the ball came down, it was chaos. Fans were diving. Feltwell managed to snag the ball, walked back to his seat, and tucked it right into his son’s glove.
They hugged. It was perfect.
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Then, out of nowhere, a woman in Phillies gear stomped over. She didn't just ask for the ball; she demanded it. The video shows her shouting, pointing, and basically losing her cool. According to Feltwell, she was using "vulgar curse words" right in front of the kids.
She claimed the ball was hers. She insisted he’d snatched it out of her hands.
Feltwell had a choice. He could fight back, or he could de-escalate. He chose the latter. He reached into his son’s glove, took the ball back, and handed it to her. She walked away, the internet's cameras rolling the whole time.
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The Hunt for the Real Phillies Karen
Who is she? That's the question that sent the internet into a tailspin. Within 48 hours, the "online sleuths" were out for blood, and as usually happens with a digital mob, they missed the mark—badly.
- The Wrong Cheryl: The first target was a woman named Cheryl Richardson-Wagner. People found her on Facebook and started the harassment. The problem? She wasn't even in Florida. She actually posted a photo of her Red Sox gear to prove she wasn't even a Phillies fan.
- The School District Saga: Then, the mob set its sights on Leslie Ann Kravitz, claiming she worked for the Hammonton Public Schools in New Jersey. The school district had to issue a public statement clarifying that she never worked there. They even added a bit of Philly sass, saying anyone from their community would have "caught the ball bare-handed in the first place."
- The Identity Mystery: To this day, the actual woman in the video has never been definitively identified. She stayed quiet, deleted her socials, and disappeared into the ether.
Why This Struck Such a Nerve
We've seen this before. Just weeks earlier at the U.S. Open, a guy snatched a hat meant for a kid. There’s something about an adult bullying a child for a $20 souvenir that makes people see red.
The Phillies and the Marlins didn't let it slide, though. The Marlins gave Lincoln a massive gift bag of swag during the game. After the final out, Harrison Bader himself invited the family back to meet him. He signed a bat for Lincoln, turning a "Karen" moment into something the kid will actually want to remember.
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Dealing with Stadium Confrontations
If you ever find yourself in a situation like this, here's the reality: don't be the person the internet hates.
- De-escalation is king. Andrew Feltwell said it best—he didn't want his kids to see him get into a physical fight over a piece of cowhide. Giving her the ball was the fastest way to get her out of his face.
- Let the stadium handle it. If someone is being aggressive or using foul language, flag down an usher. Most MLB parks have a text-for-security line printed on the scoreboard or the back of seats.
- The "Kid Rule" is real. In baseball culture, if you’re an adult and you get a ball, you look for the nearest kid. If you're the adult fighting a kid for one, you've already lost.
The "Phillies Karen" incident is a wild reminder of how fast a bad attitude can go viral. While the woman got the ball, she also became the most mocked person in baseball for a week straight. Lincoln, on the other hand, walked away with a signed bat from his hero and a lesson on how to handle bullies with class.
If you're heading to a game soon, keep your phone ready—not just for the home runs, but because you never know when the next stadium drama is going to unfold right in front of you.