The internet is in meltdown mode again over a fan–sports merchandise incident, this time stemming from Friday’s (September 5) Phillies-Marlins game in Miami.
The fracas involved a father, among five other fans, rushing for a home run ball in an empty area of the stands, rescuing it, and then handing it to his son, who was there for his birthday.
Directly after, a white-haired woman stalked toward the dad-and-son duo because she felt she was entitled to the item.
Due to her handling of the situation, she has since been dubbed “Phillies Karen.”
The father had just handed the ball to his son when Phillies Karen rocked up
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash
One of the various angles capturing the home run executed by Harrison Bader shows a ball landing in an empty part of the stands and six individuals converging on it.
The one who gets the ball is a man in a red shirt. Unbeknownst to him, a woman kitted out in jeans and a Phillies shirt claws at him, missing him by inches as he walks away.
The camera shows the man calling to his son, Lincoln, and handing him the ball, before settling in behind him.
Out of nowhere, the so-named Phillies Karen reappears on the screen and starts gesticulating wildly in the direction where the ball had landed initially.
The father looked startled at the woman’s sudden appearance
Image credits: PhilsTailgate
The man, startled at the suddenness of her intrusion, hopped back with an expression of fright on his face.
Fans closer to the confrontation were able to capture the incident with audio, and the resulting videos, making their rounds on the internet, depict the woman speaking into the man’s face.
“No, you took it from me,” she can be heard saying in a shrill voice as she leans in.
“It was in my hands,” she said loudly.
Choosing peace, the man took the ball from his bewildered son and gave it to the irate woman before sending her on her way.
Reps from both teams visited the boy and gave him gifts
Image credits: PhilsTailgate
Image credits: irenekazakos
As fate would have it, Bader, who sent the ball into the stand,s and a Marlins rep became aware of the spat.
The Marlins rep would later catch up to Lincoln and apologize for the woman’s behavior.
“That was not OK,” he told the youngster.
“So we brought you a cool little goodie bag. …I’m so sorry,” per the New York Post.
After the game, Bader gifted the boy another treat: A signed baseball bat.
Some fans think the boy’s father could have done more to defend his son
Image credits: irenekazakos
One of the fans present gave a first-hand account of the incident on X.
Responding to dissent in the comment thread, they claimed that the woman, “Phillies Karen,” faced such backlash from other fans in the stands that her husband took her out of the stadium.
Other netizens looked into the father’s handling of the situation and wrote:
“No offense but dude should have been between Karen and his son, arm up to keep her back.”
“Advocate like you mean it. She’s clearly crazy, you have no idea if she may also be violent, and if she is going to take a swing it needs to be at him and not at his kid.”
The internet is searching for the offending Phillies supporter
Another user felt the father handled the situation perfectly and wrote:
“Happy birthday dude! Your dad taught you an eternal lesson about de-escalation and avoiding confrontation.”
“In that moment, your dad was a great guy and a good example. That was the best present he could have gifted you. Although the game musta been awesome!”
Others relished the idea of heavier retribution.
One such person wrote: “X detectives will uncover her name and employer by morning.”
Less than two weeks ago, a Polish paving executive was outed for stealing a boy’s hat at a tennis match
Image credits: Mick Kirchman/Unsplash
This prospect became reality for the CEO of a Polish paving company less than two weeks ago after he nicked an autographed hat out of a boy’s hands courtside at the US Tennis Open.
While it was yet to be officially confirmed, outlets and netizens alike decided the man’s name was Piotr Szczerek. The fact that he deactivated all his social media accounts only fueled the suspicion.
Meanwhile, Kamil Majchrzak, who won the match and originally gifted the hat to the boy, was able to track the youth down and give him another hat.
The woman’s behavior has rehashed the question about adults competing with kids for sports memorabilia
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